Drive to Franz Joseph Glacier

Today Beth and I woke up early. We had a long day of travel from Queenstown to Franz Joseph Glacier. We took our time getting there though. What should have been a 4 ½ hour drive turned into 8! We were driving up and down winding roads through mountain passes and passing all of the ski fields! There are a ton of skiing resorts in Queenstown and Central Otago! We drove past Wanaka and the lake, which is the south islands largest lake. We then entered into Mt. Aspiring national park. This place was incredible! High mountain peaks with snow on the top and it turns into dense rainforest! We took a little detour to hike into the blue pools, which was a little hiking trail that winds down through the rainforest and opens up onto some little suspension bridges that give you a view down to these deep pools that form in the glacially fed rivers. The turquoise color of the glacial waters is difficult to describe and I don’t think you would even believe how gorgeous it is unless you were here! We also stopped at the Gates of Haast, a roaring river with huge glacial boulders in it. Right as we were leaving the park the up and down roads flatten out to a river valley. Wow was this incredible, I cant describe it so check out the pic below! As I was trying to take these pictures because I was in awwe of how beautiful it was I left Beth at a rest stop and started venturing toward the bridge. I then realized that if I tramp down through the undergrowth I can get a really amazing shot from underneath the bridge! So down I went, not following any trail and getting speared by wild rose bushes and sinking into the bush. But I dint care! It was so amazing I hope my photo can do it justice! I then come up from under the bridge to find beth on the side of the road hollering my name because she was worried something happened to me! Doesn’t she know by now that if there is an opportunity for me to do something a little crazy I am going to take it! We then left Mt. Aspiring NP L but we still had a long way to go. We came out to travel by the coast and we had our first glimpses of the Tasman Sea. Blue, turquoise waters with big surf is the usual there, and it was magnificent. Before we got to Franz Joseph Glacier we stopped and hiked in the blistering sun up the valley to see Fox Glacier. It really is incredible to see the power that these glaciers have had on forming the landscapes. Huge U shaped valleys with big boulders and cliff faces that have scrapes on them from being grinded along in the ice. How amazing. We were then so tired when we finally arrived that we had a big dinner and went back to our room. We then watched a few Rugby matches (something New Zealanders are crazy about!) and listened to the locals at the bar cheering and singing into the night and celebrating the All Blacks win! I think I can get into this sport! Bye for now!

This one!