Out of Ice

If I thought New Zealand was surreal before, then the experience of looking across a wall of ice to rainforest certainly convinved me that it is. On Tuesday I went for the full day guided tour of the Fox Glacier, on of the few glaciers in the world to descend almost to sea level. The glacier was amazing, literally ice blue in the caves and crevasses, and filigreed like packed down snowflackes on the surface. At some points avalanches had dposited rock and dirt on top of the glacier, looking like someone had sprinkled cocoa powder on bubble bath.
Now I'm in Hokitika, a former gold rush town, with the obligatory wide streets and former pubs on every corner. It is now the centre of the greenstone (jade) industry, and having been here for almost twenty four hours already I'm getting rather sick of the sight of it. So the plan for the rest of the day is to visit the beach and the cemetary, just for something different. I'm sending this message from a fishing shop with a gun display up the back and country music on the sound system - a little scary!
Tomorrow I catch a bus over the mountains back to Christchurch, through Arthurs Pass, and then home on Sunday. This has been a wonderful experience, but I will be happy to be home. No more pillow lucky dip (Fox Glacier is the worst so far I think), no more heavy backpack (I'm going to kick butt at pump class now), and proper kitchen equipment - and getting to see everyone again.