Slow as a glaciar

We drove up from Queenstown to Franz Josef today and it was a long, slow day on the roads. Bloody windy roads, very up and down a quite a bit of traffic on the roads, most of it slow.

The benefit was – more time to see the incredible scenery. I’m kind of sick of banging on about it, but it’s just incredible. Today’s driving took us through high mountains with wall-to-wall snow, down through rain forests, siding up against rivers & massive lakes, parallel to the Tasman Sea and then Fox Glaciar. Quite the variety!

We stopped @ Fox Glaciar, however it’s almost permanently blocked off now to groups not traveling with a guide. After a conversation with a NZ couple @ tea, it’s probably due to the 2 Australians who died a few years back when they stood directly under it. We still got some good photos though.

15 minutes up the road we got to our stopping point which is Franz Josef, the 2nd glacial site. We’re staying in a semi-backpacker site nestled amongst the rain forest and it’s a great little town. It’s a top spot to stay, it’s a shame we’re only here for a night. We bar hopped for a bit, trying the local brews and grabbed dinner in a nice old inn-style place.

We then walked down to “Glaciar Hot Pools” – which is basically a mini-resort full of heated pools, some which you can have a private relax in. The pools are split into 3 – 36 degrees, 38 and 40. Just an awesome way to spend the evening, being totally surrounded by big ferns and other rain forest vegetation and sitting in hot water and just doing nothing.

Tomorrow, the boys are doing a 5hr guided hike to Franz Josef Glaciar while the girls check out the town more and do their thing. Hopefully the weather holds out – so far it’s been just perfect.

I’ll try and get some photos up soon – until recently I’ve been doing this via my iPhone until I checked the bill… it’s well, ahem, large! Not to worry, it’s been worth it!