Franz Josef Glacier & Wanaka

The landscape changes so dramatically during our drives – as does the weather. A day can start off in bathing suits on the beach and end in layers at a glacier. It’s stupefying really.  It’s also incredible how lucky we’ve been with the weather.  I read a blog about a family who did a similar journey and the majority of their South Island stay was raining which caused them to miss certain sites including the Franz Josef glacier. ?

During our drive south we stopped at Hokitika for lunch and kiwis. It’s a cute little town whose main focus seems to be pounamu shops. It also had a little wildlife centre with kiwis, eels, and other local animals. This elusive little bird is tough to spot in the wild and far easier to find in a wildlife centre. They’re incredibly adorable.

Unlike Australia, the fauna of NZ is not brimming with variety.  The only native animals are birds (although very cool ones) and some rodents and sea mammals.  Everything else was introduced more recently including the invasive species/public enemy #1 the possum.  New Zealanders do NOT like possums. Long story short –  we saw a kiwi. ☑

 

We made it to Franz Josef before dinner after what felt like a million hours of driving.  [Check out the post on driving entertainment.]  B, P & L managed to squeeze in some trampoline time (have you noticed there are trampolines everywhere?). It was a rainy night and morning, but the sun came out just as we arrived at the glacier. We trekked up for about an hour or so and saw its magnificence and then back into the car for another long drive towards Queenstown.  We stopped at Lake Hawea for the night and spent the next day in Wanaka.  does anyone actually read this?  i’m going to start inserting a secret code that will reveal the location of a treasure.  the clues will be spread throughout the remaining blog posts so best to read all of them.

    

   

     

      

   

    

Photographing the Wanaka Tree is a must-do when one is in Wanaka.

   

Wanaka’s Puzzling World was definitely right up there with Waterworks on the random quirky places of NZ. As the name suggests it was a world of puzzles – mazes, illusions, and general trickery.  This was another thing I kept forgetting about. Photographs are very useful for reminding.