Monday, February 14, 2011

Day 452: "High Sea"

13 February, 2011

Today we were caught in the New Zealand rains. I come from tropical regions of Kerala and Singapore with abundance of rains in both places but I must say that I have never before seen a rain like this before! All the way from Wanaka to Franz Josef, a distance of more than 250 kms, it was pouring cats and dogs. Which also meant that we might have missed out on some good views of the NZ Alpine region on this particular drive, which is disappointing.

However, there was one incredible highlight for the day.

We were passing through one mountain after, through dense forests on either sides. Also, thanks to the rain the visibility was very poor, so we pretty much had little knowledge of our surroundings beyond a few metres around. At one particular turn, we came across a sign "Caution: Debris on road during high sea".

Both the hubby and I were confused by that, we were in the thick of a forest and on a mountain as far as we knew, so that absolutely didnt make any sense. Both of us almost said "What does that mean?" but were cut short mid-sentence.

Around the corner, there was the ocean - terrifyingly wild and uproarious just about 20 meters away from the road. It was such a stunning sight, and a least expected one at that. With the rain crashing down, the super grey skies above and the waves in the sea were at an appalling height and so very close to us, the atmosphere was eerily spectacular.

Am not really sure how best to describe it but I can say that sight alone made up for the lack of the Alpine views throughout the day.

548 more to go.

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