After 3 days of rain and intermittant sun, the limestone cliffs of Golden Bay finally dried out long enough for us to get one good climb in before heading back to Nelson.

Jeff Dunbar > New Zealand - S Island

After 3 days of rain and intermittant sun, the limestone cliffs of Golden Bay finally dried out long enough for us to get one good climb in before heading back to Nelson.

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So our new kiwi friend Kevin (a very experienced ice-climber) set up a toprope and we all gave it a go. Kevin was the only one who reached the top, but after cutting our teath on this amazing feature, Natalie and I were instantly hooked on ice-climbing.

Natalie and I were all smiles the day we scored ourselves a free ride on one of the scenic helicopter flights over the Southern Alps.

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Jeff Dunbar

Oct 7, 2007

“After 3 days of rain and intermittant sun, the limestone cliffs of Golden Bay finally dried out long enough for us to get one good climb in before heading back to Nelson.”

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Nearby Photos

A big battle scene from The Chronicles of Narnia was shot here.

Once again, we had this place to ourselves...

Looking straight down at the coolest 5.8 climb in NZ: Headbanger's Arete (grade 17) at the main cliff of Hospital Flat in Wanaka.

On our next visit to the glacier (my 3rd), Natalie and I were accompanied by our kiwi climber friend Ruth.

The trunk of the Franz Josef glacier, as seen from our helicopter window. Note the ocean is visible in the background.

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Huge waterfalls and frequent landslides were no bother for the kiwis who built the road through Arthur's Pass. This engineering marvel snakes east to west, straight through the heart of the Southern Alps in the middle of the South Island.

This is the grand plateau below Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook. In the bottom left/center, atop the rocky outcrop, sits an alpine hut with a red roof. Every year, hundreds of climbers use it as basecamp for alpine ascents of Mt. Cook (left) and Mt. Tasman (right).

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This place was like Arches National Park by the sea...

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Natalie celebrates our arrival on one of the most rugged and desolate beaches we've seen yet in New Zealand, near Farewell Spit on the ocean side of Golden Bay.

I'm the tiny blue dot walking away from the camera...

The local marine mammals seemed to enjoy the sun as much as we did on the Abel Tasman Coast Track. This fella weighed at least 300lbs and we ate lunch right next to him (fortunately he wasn't hungry).

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More pristine beachfront property at Abel Tasman National Park.

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Natalie took this killer shot of the snow and the ocean at the helicopter landing site at the top of the Franz Josef Glacier.

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The pace of life on Golden Bay was put into proper perspective by this line of cows that stretched all the way back to the pine trees in the background...after about 10 minutes, a farmer on a motorcycle kindly rescued us from this imposing bovine roadblock and we continued on our merry way.

So our new kiwi friend Kevin (a very experienced ice-climber) set up a toprope and we all gave it a go. Kevin was the only one who reached the top, but after cutting our teath on this amazing feature, Natalie and I were instantly hooked on ice-climbing.

After 3 days of rain and intermittant sun, the limestone cliffs of Golden Bay finally dried out long enough for us to get one good climb in before heading back to Nelson.

Natalie and I were all smiles the day we scored ourselves a free ride on one of the scenic helicopter flights over the Southern Alps.

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Dr. Seuss would've loved this place...

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