Chapter Six

"We chased the high tide, walked on pancake rocks, forgot hats, stepped on wood and catched the moon rising"

It's morning. And we're ready for the high tide chase: our first stop today will be at Te Miko, and in order to see the blowholes and the waves crashing against the pancake rocks, we'll have to be there around ten-eleven. So we go, following the Route 6, crashing our eyes against the sea. Hansi drives, I read the map and Jesper plays the guitar in the backseat.



Everything is under control, crew. And of course, pancake rock's just like Hønefossen back home, which means buses stuffed with tourists, cars, vans, souvenir shops and cafès all around. The rocks are not deceiving, though. They become more and more spectacular as we walk along the path, and no, it's really impossible to describe the strenght of the noise of the waves and of the wind, trapped into colors that are as powerful as the currents. It seems like a bunch of whales are having a school reunion between the rocks under our arses.







We climb the pancake stairs, good material for our chemist - and temporary geologist, mr. Hansi. We observe with scepical looks the interpretation that others have given to the rock-drawings in front of us, laugh and give our own ones, probably even more insane.



The boys buy some icecream, Jesper forgets his newly-bought Volcom beanie in the cafè, and whoom, on the road again. We pull off following a smaller side road, and we get to a beach that seems spilled out from some kind of dream you could have had after eating loads of delicious chocolate ice cream before going to bed. It's amazing. It's the three of us and nobody else, not a mouse, not a dinosaure. Us, and the weird shapes formed by the woodstocks, and the smooth stones. The kids wake up in our eyes, as we run around and breathe in sun.





It seems almost unreal, everything is so calm but also so exciting. I'm excited, and smiling just for the smile's sake. And because of the circus we seem really, and the lines of laughter we paint on the transparent air with.



The road is there again, frying the wheels of our Chariot of fire. Whoom, and the music fills the car. I get the news I need on the weather report and bang bang bang and take your money, you were a child crawling on your knees so take only what your need, you better you better you bet so pop goes the world and out here in the fields I don't need to be forgiven. Pull off the road again, near a campervan of retired germans. I can't keep the energy inside, I just have to run up and down and jump around for a couple of minutes. And than we're like Jesus or like Deep Purple's smoke, dancers on the water.





The mountains starts appearing again, thousands of meters straight up from the ground. It's beautiful, and now we start looking forwards (litterally), to try and see Mount Cook. And a cow observes Jesper and Hansi on the seesaw.




We reach Franz Joseph glacier while the shadows are slowly sucking it and pushing towards the evening. A short walk up to the glacier takes us to a quite interesting sight. But the last bit of road is still waiting for us. We leave tons of ice behind our shoulders, and start the Chariot up.



It's a race against the turning around of the world and against the arc of the sun. We want to get to Fox glacier before the sun slips down, we want to get the last rays on Mount Cook.



It feels like being in an action movie, when we stop (iiik!!) in front of the tourist information. The boys run in and get out after a few seconds, waving a map in the hand. We have a spot, and few minutes to get there. Whooom, again, while the sun sinks behind the horizon. When we reach our spot, mr. Sun is just begone. And than we look up, towards Mount Cook. The moon is rising. And the colors are simply incredible. Some weird birds make some weird noises, and it starts getting really cold. But the silence that finally covers everything, the darkness floats in intense, unique.









The night takes Fox Glacier bite after bite. We order interesting salmon pizzas, hide in an internet point with internettt axes card and finally push our babychar on the side of the road to try and get some sleep. Some can see the stars through the windows, I can see the moon. It's seriously hypnotizing, although I guess Hansi and Jesper would say I'm simply obsessed with it. Never mind, tomorrow it'll be gone.