Glaciers, Rain, and some more rain...but with some cool scenery!

Happy early Easter! I guess it is especially early for all of those in the US since it’s not even Sunday here yet. The three of us are continuing on our merry way journeying through the South Island. After a solid night’s sleep on Thursday (the noisy kids did not return!!), we took a short drive to the glaciers. At Franz Josef, the path to the glacier was 1.5 hours round trip—we decided instead to go for the half hour walk to Peter’s Pool (quite fitting!). It was really neat because you could see the reflection of the glacier in the pristine pool, and there wasn’t anyone else around when we got there which was pretty cool. Then we headed onwards to Fox Glacier, were we walked the hour long trip to and fro. Almost…Mom balked at the last stream we had to cross with stepping stones, and it had also started drizzling, increasing the chances for slipping and falling into the water. To be honest, I was more impressed with the surrounding scenery and the numerous waterfalls than the glaciers themselves. I’m sure up close they would have been pretty cool, but from farther away they mostly struck me as a bunch of dirty ice. A horrible thing to say I’m sure, and perhaps I will find a glacier that will change my opinion. Perhaps a trip to Alaska would be a good plan, we shall see!

After all of our excitement, we headed back to the town near Franz Josef where we were staying for the night. After finding that to our dismay, there was no microwave or oven in our suite, we were unable to reheat our Indian food or cook our planned spaghetti. Luckily, being a town completely made up of tourists visiting the glaciers, some of the local places to eat were open even though it was Good Friday. The 20% surcharge due to it being a public holiday was a bit offsetting, but there wasn’t a whole lot of choice to be had. After chowing down, we retreated to our room to attempt to turn the heat on. Turns out that we did our job too well, as we were all very warm while sleeping that night. Or should I say, attempting to sleep. We knew that a big rain was headed in our direction, and it hit on Friday starting with the drizzle at the glaciers. It increased to a regular downpour, which wouldn’t have been a big deal if we weren’t on the top floor of a hotel that had a tin roof. The sound was deafening to the point that I could hardly hear Dad snoring in the next bed for part of the night. Mom and I didn’t get too much sleep, although from the amount of snoring that I heard while lying in bed staring at the dark ceiling, Dad slept just fine. I guess it was best for him to get the most sleep since he was the one driving to Wanaka the next day.

Today (Saturday), we drove from Franz Josef to Wanaka. It was still very rainy as we worked our way through some mountains, but the amount of waterfalls the rain had created was staggering. And pretty awesome…it provided excellent entertainment on the ride. There was everything from little mini waterfalls right by the road to huge roaring ones up in the mountains. There was even a ridiculously long one that snaked its way all the way down the side of one mountain…so cool. After we passed through Haast and continued on towards Lake Hawea, a magical moment occurred. We turned the bend in the rainy and dark wilderness to be met with one of the most fantastic views I’ve seen since coming here (and that’s saying something). The sun had broken out of the clouds, the sky was blue, and the mountains were lit up in many colors by the sunbeams. It was totally amazing. As we continued on, the lake only made the view that much better. Although the road was relatively straight and I didn’t have to worry about the possibility of motion sickness as I had earlier, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the continual views to read my book (by the way, I’ve finished The Fellowship of the Ring and I’m blazing through The Two Towers!). After passing through Lake Hawea, we reached Lake Wanaka and the small town where we will be staying until Tuesday. The weather was perfect and the tourists were out in full force to take advantage of the weather and the stunning views of the lake and mountains surrounding the town. The place where we are staying, besides having the first free internet since we’ve been traveling (woo hoo!), has a small balcony out of the back. The view is great as you can see the lake in the distance and there is a babbling brook of sorts that runs right through the back of the hotel property, so you can be soothed by the running water. Although I don’t get the joy of my own bathroom (somehow I will survive), I do get my own room with two single beds—one for me and one for Carlos (my monkey with an attitude that Alex lent me for my stay in NZ). And now, after some belated picture uploading (whoops), it’s off to bed in preparation for a few exciting days in Wanaka!

NZ Weeks 7-8 Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150548222585707.655032.597595706&l=4afb40be1c