6th May Tuesday Franz Josef to Wanaka

We, like all tourists, flocked to Franz Josef Glacier. It was a disappointment. We could not get any closer than to watch the glacier from the opposite bank of the river, about 1000m asway from the glacier face. It was an enormous piece of ice, covering the base and valley of the mountain. In the old days, it was even bigger, covering the entire road leading to the Glacier.

The weather was a bit cold, so we were all dressed up like a cotton wool. My mum was not keen of wearing too many layers (like most people in the tropics, they do not understand the word "cold"). We took a photo of her to show she is not fat.

We then drove to Fox Glacier. This time we could go closer to the glacier. We took about 30 minutes hike to the base. It was spectacular, more if I may says so compared to Franz Josef. Vertical wall of mountain on one side made this an interesting view.
We then came along SH6, and came across a salmon farm. The idea was to get some salmon for dinner. The set up with its own shop, a viewing pond and restaurant was great, but we cannot find a good piece of salmon to take home. At the viewing pond, there were many big fish, about 30lbs?

One observation. Richard waved to almost every on-coming camper van, no matter their sizes. We found that those smaller camper van drivers had an attitude not to be like the bigger camper van driver. They seldom waved back. In particular I mean those from Wicked, Juicy, Escape and Spaceships.

We had tomatoes soup at Bruce Bay. The scenery was as exquisite as the soup. The sea was lovely. Imagine after these NZ coasts, there will be nothing until South Poles.

We stopped at Knight Point lookout. From here you can see jagged coast line with high cliff. There were pieces of cliff being washed over to sea. So, we get these stumps like cliff all along the coast line.

We drove to Haast. We had to cross a long single lane bridge over River Haast. The view again was great. Sea on the right and big wide river on the left.

From Haast to Wanaka, the drive was so exquisite. I am not sure I want to describe it, just in case I am not doing its justice. You would have to come and see for yourself. Richard had some good photos.

We came past the Makarora River; this is the start of Lake Wanaka. This lake is so big and deep. About 42 Km long and depth of more than 300m (980 ft).

There is another lake – Lake Hawea (35 Km long and 392m deep). The two lakes divided by a 8km wide pass. We came into Wanaka, then drove across the mountain and came to the entrance of Lake Hawea. It was just so stunning, lakes surrounded by snow capped mountains.

A tip, Shania Twain's estate is for sale, she and her husband are splitting up and they paid millions of dollars for a ranch in Wanaka. This is a place I would like to live too.

We arrived at our campsite, dazed from the scenery and very tired. Fish and chips for supper. The fish was called blue cod. It was yummy. The chips were better than England. Shame.