Lake Matheson, Wanaka and Queenstown!

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After enjoying the day on the mountain at Franz Joseph Glacier, we drove south passing the Fox Glacier. The two glaciers are pretty close together and both are very touristy, if that is a word. Near Fox Glacier is Lake Matheson. Lake Matheson is known for its reflections. The dark color causes very vivid reflections as you can see in the pictures.

The drive down the coast continues to be beautiful with views of the Tasman Sea from up on the road above.

Wanaka is a big ski town in the winter time and a nice relaxed town in the summer. The fact that the weather was warm and sunny when we got there helped make the place a little nicer to relax. I did a hike up Mount Iron to get a good view of Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea as well as the surrounding mountains. Then I met up with a couple of other friends and went to Puzzling World to see the exhibits. There are two areas at Puzzling World. One is the main exhibit area which has several optical illusions. Pretty cool. The other area is a very large maze. The maze is two stories tall and takes about an hour to complete. It was fun running around and trying to find our way, despite the frustrations along the way of going into another dead end.

The drive to Queenstown was scenic as well, but I did not get many more pictures as I could have hundreds of pictures of the beautiful mountains here in New Zealand. A lot of other tourists get all of the pictures, but maybe I have been a little spoiled having lived in Colorado for the last ten years. Still the views are great!

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Photos

Lake Matheson
Amazing refections off of Lake Matheson!

Lake Matheson (and the Southern Alps)
Picture of the Southern Alps (Mount Tasman and Mount Cook) reflecting off of Lake Matheson.

Lake Matheson
Another shot of the reflections off of Lake Matheson.

Me at overlook on the west coast
An overlook that we stopped at on the drive down the west coast of the South Island.

Overlook on the west coast
Looking down onto the Tasman Sea and the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

West coast beach
Looking down the coast at the surf. Views of the Tasman Sea!

River near the Haast Pass
Views down the valley on the drive through the Haast Pass.

Sign for the Blue Pools
The trail sign for the Blue Pools. The Blue Pools are up near Haast Pass.

Suspension bridge at Blue Pools
A suspension bridge along the short hike to the Blue Pools.

Blue Pools
Nice view of the Blue Pools.

Safety warning in jetboat
Picture of the front of the jetboat as well as the warning signs in the boat.

View while jetboating
View down the valley in Mount Aspiring National Park.

Jetboating near Makarora
Jetboating up the Wilkin River in Mount Aspiring National Park.

Rainbow over Lake Wanaka
Nice rainbow seen along the drive into Wanaka from Makarora.

Lake Wanaka
Another view of Lake Wanaka on the drive from Makarora to Wanaka.

Lake Hawea
Lake Hawea from the drive from Makarora to Wanaka.

Lake Hawea
View looking back toward the other end of Lake Hawea.

Wanaka
Looking back at Wanaka across part of Lake Wanaka.

Wanaka Subway
Alright. This is a token shot for you guys. I ate at Subway in Wanaka. It was voted the Subway with the best view in the world - looking onto Lake Wanaka. Had to eat here and get a picture!

Lake Wanaka
Looking back down onto Lake Wanaka from Mount Iron.

Puzzling World
A weird museum / exhibit in Wanaka. It contained optical illusions and a giant maze.

Comments

[Caroline (Little Weeg)]

my brown brother...
you are looking tan in that last photo!!!

[Caroline (Little Weeg)]

Tea Pot?
What was in the tea pot?

[Jake]

Ick
These photos are making all my awesome desert photos from Iraq look like crap.