After a comfortable night at the Shining Star holiday park in Hokitika we used up the last of the offered facilities by uploading more pictures to Google Drive over the wifi and by emptying out our grey water tank. Then it was time to head to the road and fill up another tank with some unleaded petrol. It costs about 202 cents per liter here, which is about 70 cents more than it did in Australia. Luckily some supermarkets give out vouchers for a 4 cents per liter discount at specific petrol stations if you buy enough groceries. We had one and got about $1.5 off when we filled the half full tank. The Mighty Jackpot campervan had consumed about 13 l/100km which wasn't that bad considering we had gone over the mountain region and were constantly recharging the second battery as we went.

Our first stop of the day was a short one as we pulled over at the Westcoast Treetop Walk close to the main road. We walked into the office, took a look at their prices and walked out without making eye contact with the people behind the counter. They were asking $28 per student which seemed a little expensive, as everything they deem fit to advertise around here does. We continued on towards south and stopped once more at Ross for some free activities. We took the Water Race Walkway from the visitor center to see some remnants of the gold rush that built so many boom towns in this area. The short loop should take an hour to complete but I guess that's only if you don't get too much into going through preserved mining shafts and panning for gold. They actually have a site on a riverbed where you're allowed to search for gold using traditional tools. Since I didn't bring even a plate, much less a pickaxe, I just went in with my hands. Luckily my gold fever got down pretty quickly in the cold water… They had gold panning at the visitor center also, I'm guessing for a fee, and the rest of it seemed fairly well maintained too. The loop track was nice with informative signs posted along the way.

It started raining as we were leaving Ross and it kept raining for the rest of the day. We were headed to the Franz Josef Glacier and were a little worried if we would see anything at all with the weather looking like it did. After arriving into Franz Josef Township we stopped at their visitor center to ask our normal questions (what's there to do for free, where are some free campsites) and were informed that the weather was likely to get worse. We had thought about staying the night at a free campsite at Doherty Creek just south of the glacier but when we said that to the lady she made a face and said she wouldn't recommend it. Apparently it might rain more than a lot, which might mean anything from landslides to flooding, so it would be best to stay at a real campsite. We promised to give it some thought and asked about the glacier walk, which was the reason we had come there. It was open and the road was supposed to be in good condition even with the rain, which might however obscure the view a little.

We gave it a try and drove five kilometers to the carpark where the track starts. Since the glacier is a moving object and potentially lethal they check up on it daily and mark their findings on a board by the toilets. That day the walk should take one and a half hours return and we could get no closer than 500 meters from the glacier face. It was still raining but a group of other young people in a campervan who had just returned from the trip said it had been great. The track took us across the bottom of the valley floor where we couldn't see the mountain tops because of the rain, but the ample supply of water luckily made the several waterfalls look their best. It took us 35 minutes to reach the end of the line, where they have drawn a fence to separate the tourists from the glacier. It must have been closer than 500 meters, or else the mass of ice was bigger than it seemed. However far it was, it seemed to be as far as anyone could go on any day for free. We had passed some open gates that could shorten the track, but as we came to the end there were no more railings before us.

We got a good look at the glacier from our vantage point even with the rain and the fog but had we been a few years earlier it might have been even more impressive. They had signs on the way showing pictures of the glacier from 2008 when it had been much further in the valley. Recent melting had made it recede a long way in a very short while. That is supposedly why there are no more simple guided walks on the ice as there were in the time our Footprint guidebook had been written. Nowadays reaching the glacier was only possible with a helicopter, which made the trips hugely expensive. One could also take a guided walk to the glacier face, which I suppose just meant paying a whole lot of money to go exactly where we went for free.

The ground was easy to walk on and the track was far from hard or dangerous, but one should still consider looking out of the window before heading out. We passed quite a few people on the way there and back and while many were dressed appropriately in waterproof jackets, pants and hiking boots, most were ill-equipped. We saw it all, from college shirts and jeans worn with sneakers, to girls in leggings, to the plastic bag rain ponchos. Some had been clever enough to put on an outdoorsy jacket but wore shorts with them. And then there was the busload from a certain local hotel, recognizable by the huge black umbrellas they carried with the name of the facility on them. Most were dressed as if they were still inside the comforts of the hotel, only they didn't really seem to be enjoying themselves half as much.

As we got back into the car I happened to receive a text message from our rental place, warning us about severe weather conditions on the south island for the next two days, which gave us pause. Camping for free is nice, but only as long as we can be sure it's safe. The lady at the visitor's center had advised us to go to the nearest Department of Conservation (DoC) camp area weirdly called Ottos/MacDonalds. It was classified as a standard campsite which meant that the fee would be $6 per adult. $12 for a night didn't seem that bad, considering that we had had warnings from two different sources. Also, if we camped at a site not really mentioned in maps after our rental company had specifically advised taking care, and happened to, say, flood the car, we might be in some trouble.

We chose to drive to Ottos/MacDonald, 13 kilometers back north along Highway 6, stopping along the way to get some change at the local store. We found the place easily enough and realized it was actually two separate sites. We checked out MacDonalds first and found it to be a large circular area with a pit toilet. There was only one car there and the whole place looked like it was in a large depression on the ground, which might turn into a lake if it kept on raining. We drove back to Ottos and found it to be a whole lot better, with water toilets and on higher ground. There were multiple other cars there too, so we wouldn't be alone in any distress. We decided to stay and paid the twelve dollars to the fee collection box after filling out the little ticket type paper. Supposedly they check the box daily and award people who haven't paid with a $200 fine.

The evening went by smoothly while covering from the rain inside our campervan. We made a surprisingly delicious meal entirely of instant powders, adding brown sauce to textured soy protein and potato flakes. It all came together by boiling some water and then adding it in right quantities to three containers! In Australia we tried to stay away from these sorts of things but here the real food is even more expensive so this is what we've had to resort to. Or maybe it's just about our priorities because after the dinner we sat down to have some New Zealander Riesling and brie on crackers… And when that was done we sat down again, this time on the porta potty that came with the car in order to remain dry despite the ongoing rain.

We missed the earthquake in Nepal and the cyclone in Sydney, maybe we were due…

It rained all through the night and in the morning the sky didn't look to be improving its mood any time soon. We drove back to Franz Josef Township to ask about the weather forecast from the Visitors' Center and basically got the answer "You can try to drive south but I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to". It was the same lady as the day before, she apparently wasn't the most optimistic of people. They had posted the forecast on the wall and that was in no ways more promising, there was to be a lot of rain that day and possibly for a couple days after that. So in the end we couldn't really hope to wait for the weather to clear out. We decided to give the road a try.

Sini drove, as she has been ever since I hurt my shoulder in Australia. It's better now, but I still use it as an excuse so I don't have to drive the stick shift van. We proceeded in caution, slowly enough to spot any puddles on the road, of which there were some. We were aiming to go at least past Haast 148 kilometers away, which on a good day should take about 2.5 hours. The winging road took us more than that. It was still raining heavily and all the rivers and creeks we passed were flooding, but luckily the roadside ditches seemed to be holding their own. It was also very windy, reminding us of the guy at Mighty's office telling us how the van might tip in a sharp turn. It did no such thing however and we made it through safely with just one stop at a rest area.

When we got to Haast Junction we stopped at the Visitors' Center to check the latest weather reports and were informed that the highway we had been travelling on was closed right after Haast. They didn't know whether it was going to reopen that day or not or even what had happened to it. This was delivered to us in an almost cheery tone, followed by the statement that "you better just stay here at a holiday park, there's no other options for you". We asked if there was anything to do or see, but all the nearby walking tracks were likely to be flooded, cheerily said. When at last we asked if it was possible to do freedom camping in the area the lady finally changed tunes. She looked at us sternly and recited the mandatory "in New Zealand you are allowed to freedom camp in a self-contained vehicle anywhere where it is not specifically prohibited or within 200 meters of…" something I didn't quite get. Then she added "but I'm not going to tell you where to freedom camp".

Now wait a minute… They give out these brochures at the Visitors' Centers that state two things: 1) the rules about freedom camping and 2) that you should always ask at the local Visitors' Center if it's OK to camp at a specific spot. So far we had tried asking in three different towns and had always gotten a weird answer, like we did at Franz Josef. This was the first time someone was as forward though and we wanted to know why. The lady got all high and mighty on us, stating that as a local she didn't want people ruining the scenery by taking their cars to these places and leaving behind their rubbish and other waste. To that we responded that we had a self-contained vehicle and were allowed to do that, we even showed her the brochure that told us to ask information from people like her. We argued about the matter a little and in the end she ran out of things to say but still refused to help us. She had nothing to say to our argument that if she worked in a Visitors' Center she was required to give visitors the information promised by her superiors.

And by the way Mom, I was nice, for the most part. I didn't cross my arms or signal threat in any way, I only tried to reason with the woman. If in the end she seemed to shrink down under her desk it was only because she couldn't reason her way out of the conversation.

But she still shouldn't have f**ked with us.

Just saying…

With our options limited to going back about 40 kilometers north to stay at a standard DoC campsite for $12, or finding a place to stay in Haast, we chose to drive into Haast. We got a powered site at Haast Lodge for $32, which surprisingly didn't include showers, which gave seven minutes of hot water for a 50 cent coin. They had wifi, but it cost $3/hour. Luckily their kitchen area was nice with even a working oven and cookware. Most importantly though, they had power when others did not. When the power went out from the rest of the tiny village, our manager just went to turn on a generator and the lights came back on. The local grocery store wasn't as prepared and we didn't get any new food from there, which wasn't really a problem but we didn't get to use the preciously rare oven (though I'm not really sure if it would have worked with the generator power anyway). We were however able to procure a 2010 Lonely Planet New Zealand from the book exchange to go with our Footprint guidebook.