Sunday, April 16, 2006

Blowing Holes and Glowing Worms

Today we scaled the Southern Alps, heading across the Lewis Pass and following down the Buller River towards the Western coastline and the Tasman Sea. The drive was quite scenic (again), climbing and falling in elevation. As we got closer to the coast, the highway began to resemble the central coast of California, with much lusher vegetation. Still, very few settlements apparent on this South Island. Unlike Australia, who have had native residents for 40,000 years, EnZed's Maori settlers arrived about 700 years ago. Still a very young place as far as population is concerned.

We stopped for a look at Pancake Rocks, which is a series of volcanic upcroppings at the ocean with eroded arches and a unique layered appearance to the rocks. There was a short little nature trail which walked us around the different overlooks, going past a blowhole which erupted at high tide.

Down the road from the international rock of pancakes was Hokitika, a town of about 4000. We settled into our spartan cabins and trudged into town for dinner. Being Easter Sunday, we had a bit of difficulty for the second straight night finding a table. The one restaurant we could get a table had a bit of a wait until their staff showed up, so we again wandered the town for a bar to have an apertif. Unfortunately, New Zealand law doesn't allow the sale of liquor on Easter Sunday, except when ordered with dinner. We were lucky enough to find a bar seedy enough to be in violation of this policy. Several Hokitikans were hard at work commemorating their lord's resurrection in their own special way.

After a fantastic meal at the much anticipated French restaurant, we tramped on up the road again for a look at the mysterious glow worms. These tiny worms use their excrement to attract prey to a spun web by burning it off, causing a faint blue glow. The glow worm dell was a short trail which at first looked like nothing, only to turn pitch black and begin to be surrounded by pin pricks of phosphorescent light. The effect reminded me initially of those cheesy glow-in-the-dark adhesive stars in which many a kid would place on their ceiling. The trail ended in total darkness at a small dell (shallow pool) which was surrounded by glow worms, providing quite a surreal effect.

posted by ncawthon at 7:10 PM