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Other entries in Franz Josef

Barely Street Legal

The car, the car, the car....sucks. So I'm writing this partly to let y'all know what I've been up to and partly as a exercise in venting so if this turns into long diatribe then I apologise in advance.
So there I am in Dunedin minding my own business and I decide that since the WOF on my car is about to expire I had better take the thing into a garage and get the WOF certificate done. The test costs $35 or so and I was expecting $2-300 worth of repairs. Imagine my shock when after wasting a day arsing around in Dunedin I need basically more repairs than I can afford. Rather than chuck a wobbly and beat the poor man to death I decide to feel philosophical about the whole thing, its pretty much my own damn fault anyway. So off I go back to the hostel and have a quiet night facing the prospect of my now much dimished funds on account of the fact that the car is now unsaleable and the $1300 I spent on the thing is now lost.
The next morning rather than hang around in Dunedin I head West towards Wanaka. On the way out of town however the engine decides to overheat, so I pull over and find steam pouring out of the engine - evidently a water coolant system leak. I carefully open the rad and dodge the column of superheated slime that jets out of it. After waiting for the engine to cool and topping up the rad I tentatively start her up again and low and behold she runs and at a normal temperature to boot. I proceeded to drive out of town and the only problem that arises is that after about 200kms the engine begins to overheat so I pull over and fill the rad again. Is that it you cry, no my story gets better, but first Wanaka.
I arrived to find the town quiet and with a sullen cloud covering still the sun shining through the clouds and the clear refelction of the surrounding mountains in the lake made the whole scene very cool and ethereal. Once I got settled I decided to look up some freinds of my cousin David from California who had moved from the states and opened a B&B in the town. I tracked down Jaime and his wife Mary Kate and they were nothing but welcoming treating me to dinner 2 nights in a row while I explained some of the subtleties of the game of rugby as I understand them -I was truly blown away by their hospitality especially considering that I had just rocked up and siad that I was a freind of a freind and would they mind letting me in. We watched the All Blacks slaughter Fiji 91-0 (ouch!) and then to the delight of the Kiwi's surrounding us at the bar saw the NZ Maori beat the Lions 19-13 - good times.
I had wanted to do some hikes in Wanaka but the weather would not cooperate so I was limited to the oddly entertaining Puzzling world and attached maze that was actually not bad.
After 2 nights I was eager to head west again and so drove out of town under the same pall of cloud that was there when I arrived and drove up through the awesome Haast pass towards the West Coast. I arrived on the coast to find the sun blazing away and better yet the car seemed to be cooperating. I stopped at the various viewpoints along the way that the map recommends and was duly impressed with the scenery. That night I even found a deserted beach and had a driftwood fire goin by the time the sun went down, awesome!.
The following morning I elected to drive about 15 minutes up the road to the trailhead of the Copland Track. The track actually starts in Mt. Cook village and is a full on Alpine crossing of the southern Alps, but (not to worry mom) the first 17km from the West end is below the treeline and leads to a hut built near a series of geothermal pools. The hike was good if slippery in some places and tough at times including a number of rather dubious swing brides over rivers. But 5 hours later I arrived and made full use of the pools that are about 30degrees even though the air temp must have gone below freezing in the night (my shorts were frozen). Picture if you will steam rising from a hot pool in a forest clearing from where you can see snowcapped peaks surrounding you for pretty much 360 degrees. As you lie there the sun sets and the mountains go almost purple before the light fades and the stars come out and you pretty much get the idea.
The next morning I hiked back out and found that my car wouldn't start, I had a group of guys try and push start it with me but to no avail. So I left it in the sun with the hood open for about 20 minutes after which it started while I yelled "She lives again" with glee. I drove the short distance into town noticing that now both the battery and transmission lights were coming on. Still she seemed to run alright except in neutral when it now revs up and down for no reason. Still she ran and took me to Lake Matheson where you get awesome views of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman reflected in the still lake as the sun sets.
Is this the end of my automobile related tale of woe you ask, no. Suffice it to say that between leaving Fox, getting to the terminal face of the Fox Glacier and getting to Frnaz Josef I needed three boosts, including one on the road when the car just died. I feel that I am being very calm about the whole thing but there is a small part of me that is screaming in animal rage and wants to set fire to the thing while laughing maniacially while the car erupts into flames.
Anyway to take my mind off things I am tomorrow going Ice Climbing for the day on the Franz Josef glacier, something I've never done before so I'm pretty psyched. Thats it for now, further updates as events warrant

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