Honestly we wait to long to write these posts!
Last time I wrote we were going skiing at Treble Cone the following day. Comparing this to The Remarkables in Queenstown, we absolutely thought this mountain was better. The views, lifts, snow, difficult runs and prices were all a little greater! The one tough thing about getting to the ski mountains here is the nail biting ride up to the top. Elliot once again suprised me with his skiing excelence while I managed to not to fall once! All in all it was one terrific day.
We left Wanaka the very next day and although we had sore limbs and were very ready to take another day of rest we had the awesome drive along Haast Pass ahead of us. We stopped to look at a few waterfalls and take some beautiful scenic pictures before reaching Fox Glacier where we spent the night. After a night full of planning hikes and talks about going to get a viewing of the glaciers (Franz Josef included) we woke to rain and dark clouds so our hikes were put off and the only view of the glaciers we got were ones from our campervan. There are a few different ways to see these glaciers one being pricey helicopter ride and another being glacier walks. Both I've heard are pretty cool. Both Fox Glacier and Franz Josef are the only two glaciers in the world that descend into the rainforest (a little trivia for you).
Along the drive we passed some other very small towns like Hokitika which specializes in the sale of jade, bone and paua shell designs. You can buy an array of necklaces or other types of jewellery in the Maori designs or make your own in this town. It's quite interesting and again, quite expensive.
Yesterday our drive was again in the rain, but unbelivably beautiful the entire way. Neither of us can get enough of the rainforest. There is something about the fresh smell - we love it! It's also quite funny to see just how many other people are doing the same thing we're doing. You wouldn't even imagine how many other camper vans we see in a day and how many of them take the time to wave or give thumb's up! It's almost as though we are the only people on the road and we can also drive for quite long periods of time before seeing another vehicle. It's also quite crazy to see how many one-way bridges there are here in New Zealand. Someone always has the right-of-way, but at the same time it is a little scary at times when you are going around the corner and aren't quite sure about what you might find on the other side. A few scary moments for sure!
Yesterday we spent the night at Punakaiki and stopped to see the Pancake
Rocks (pictured) and the Blowholes. They were awesome but again it was raining so the pictures are a bit dark. We woke up to rain again this morning but is has cleared off and we are now spending the night in Picton and going to be traveling via ferry to the North Island tomorrow! Can you imagine a whole other Island to explore in less than two weeks!!!
'Till next time,
Love, Amy & Elliot x
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