I spent one night in very nice little hostel in Te Anau. It had a cozy great room with a wood burning stove that kept us all pleasantly toasty despite the cool weather at night. The guests there were really friendly and I had fun talking to everyone in the evening. Plus… there were llamas!! From there, I did the Key Summit Hike in Fiordland National Park. This hike was up, up, up, so not the easiest for me. But the view was worth it — gorgeous alpine views in all directions. I stayed my second night in a sweet little cabin right in the park. The drive to Milford Sound was stunning, maybe the most beautiful I have done so far. 

Wanaka and Queenstown are both surrounded by beautiful mountains. In Wanaka I made a friend, Robyn, from Taiwan. We got coffee together in town and she showed me around a bit. In the afternoon I spent some time printing and completing my ballot for the election so I could get it in the mail. I didn’t much care for Queenstown, despite the beautiful setting. It felt really touristy. The whole town is covered in advertisements for adventure sports like sky diving, canyoning, and bungy jumping. I did enjoy watching the bungy jumping though! I also spent a few hours wandering around the town gardens.

I went hiking on a glacier!! I got to ride in a helicopter up to the surface of the glacier. Then we did three hours of hiking on the glacier — through ice caves, over cracks and streams, and past massive walls of ice. It was amazing! The surface of the glacier was mostly like the crushed ice of a snow cone, loose and crunchy where air permeated the surface of the ice. But underneath that was the incredible blue ice, which we could see in the pools and caves and cracks. That blue was breathtaking. On the helicopter ride back to town, the pilot made a wide turn and the helicopter turned sideways!! This experience was in my lifetime top ten, for sure!

From Arthur’s pass, I drove over to the west coast. I stayed at a lovely beach-front hostel in Punakaiki. When it was high tide, I took a walk at the Punakaiki Rocks — a series of rock formations and blowholes along the beach. I loved seeing the water crash against the rocks and watching all the blowholes was so cool! My favorite was the Chimney Pot, where the waves forced water up into the inside of the rocks and it was pushed out a small hole as vapor, which looked just like the steam on a giant tea kettle! The next morning I took a hike along the coast at Motukiekie, which can only be done at low tide. I explored some tide pools and saw the rock towers. After my hike I enjoyed a restful afternoon in the hostel. The following day I headed south and stopped at the Hokitika Gorge. This was my first sight of the beautiful blue of the water that comes from the glaciers. The rock dust causes the glacial melt water to take on a cloudy bright blue. So beautiful! I arrived in Franz Josef planning to hike on the glacier the next day. My plan was thwarted by rain, and I ended up spending the day in the hostel doing some trip planning for my time in Australia. I was overjoyed when I woke the next day to a clear morning! I got to take a helicopter up to Franz Josef Glacier and hike for three hours on the glacier!! I want to share a lot of photos from that experience so it will get a separate post.