Franz Josef, Fox, Haast

23-25/12 Rainforest Retreat, Franz Josef Glacier
We drove first to Hokitika, where we were planning to stay for christmas, but then saw it was to boring, so we went on. We got a motelroom with a private bathroom, but the kitchen was horrible - and we had planned to cook dinner all over Christmas! On Christmas Eve we just took it easy, and in the evening we went to mass. On Christmas day we looked at the glacier. It goes right down into the forest. In the evening we went out to the restaurant because of the horrible kitchen. It rained the whole time.

26-27/12 Ivory Towers private house, Fox Glacier
We drove on to the next glacier and got a really good room at a private house with just three double rooms. We had it almost all to ourselves, and since it rained the whole of next day it was very cozy to sit in the lounge and read and watch TV. The first day the weather was good though, and we went biking to Lake MAtheson and then up to the glacier.

28/12 Haast Beach Holiday Park
The weather was better and we visited Lake Matheson again and went around it and took some pictures, then down to the sea at Gillespies Beach and went for a walk there. the drove along the coast to Haast. On the way there were many beacutiful views, like Knight's Point, and we stopped at a salmon farm where they keep the salmon in ponds right next to the restaurant. Everything in Haast was full or ugly, so we went in the tent instead. In the evening we went for a walk on the beach and saw an airplane parked in a field, and almost didn't get back before dark.

29/12 Wanaka Top 10 holiday Park
In the morning we drove to Jackson Bay, a place that was settles by hundreds of people and was supposed to become a big town on the West Coast, but they soon discovered they couldn't survive there. Now it's a beautiful little harbour with new luxury houses being built. We then went up into the mountains where we stopped at Thunder Creek Falls, Fantail Falls and a longer walk to the Blue Lakes. Unfortunately we didn't bring the swimsuits there - it was really beautiful, but would have been ice-cold of course. We then came out to Lake Hawea, where we had to go on a detour because of a traffic accident and then to Wanaka, where it turned out everything was completely fully book. In the end they got a cancellation at the holiday park and we got a tent site.

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