Franz Joseph

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We headed off this morning to have a walk up to the glacier, but stopped off on the way at Lake Matheson. This was a lovely little place where most of the postcards show the reflection of Mount Cook in the lake. We had breakfast in the cafe there as well and had a look around the gift shop and bought some postcards to send home. It was this morning that we noticed we were missing a little side window from the sleeping berth above the drivers side. Rhyds driving got the blame for that, but to be honest we don't know how or where we'd lost it, and surprised that we'd not noticed it fly off!

We had a walk as far up to the glacier as we could go, and the sheer size was deceiving until you looked across to see the people on it who were doing the guided walks resembling nothing more than little dots moving about on the ice. There were plenty of warnings not to go past the warning barriers, and news clippings of people, who had done so and been killed by falling ice-not worth the photograph.

Onto the next campsite which was a lovely peaceful place called the Rainforest retreat. We went to the Kiwi Sanctuary which was a little walk down the road. Kiwis are nocturnal so it was difficult to see them as they were just chilling out in the dark, but we saw the three that were at the sanctuary, quite funny little things. We weren't allowed to take any pictures which is fair enough, so we just took one of the giant kiwi outside.

Next we went to the Glacier hot pools which had 3 pools at 36, 38 and 40 degrees. It was so lovely and relaxing, and Daryl, Rhyd and I got booked in for a massage as an extra treat.

Caleb had his first swim here, before Gareth and Michelle headed into town for a wander round and a beer, before we all met up again at the restaurant and bar at the campsite.

There was a big roaring log fire, and the food here was great but they'd missed Jans order, so they gave us a free round of drinks to make up for it. We had a few cocktails, and after getting lost twice trying to find his way back to the van, Daryl has now nicknamed Den 'homing pigeon'

It felt a bit chilly tonight compared to normal, so it was nice to get tucked up in bed after yet another busy day.

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Photos

Spot the dots on the glacier

Comments

[Jan and Andy]

Blog appreciation!
Enjoying your blog. You're obviously all have a great time.