Today was a driving day, but as we left our rainforest campsite...it was so wet early this morning that I needed a towel to wipe down the inside of the van windows...we saw better what we had hoped to see yesterday!
Onwards the short drive up to Fox Glacier. A long driving day again today so we decided best not to tempt the rain gods today and also to get back onto the road. Here are a series from the hike in today;
Sadly, I'm 100% sure that this glacier won't exist when my 'possible' future grandchildren come for a visit sometime down the road unless they arrive soon;-) Erin, our oldest, is getting married next year, so perhaps we are a bit closer to that possibility. The signage evidence is just too specific. Perhaps they will at least be able to look at these images. I know, not a very optimistic prognosis. However, the valley will still be a beautiful tramp...
However, Mt. Cook remained elusive for another day. As we drove down the highway towards the turn off to Fox Glacier, the view back was striking.
Hey, I really like mountains and glaciers!
Himself. Amateur (but enthusiastic) writer, photographer and retired traveling soul...totally at home with his present life:-)
Then it was southward down the coast skirting rain showers and looking at the limited views that were available. Avoiding the idiots who figured that it's ok to pass on blind curves...a real problem with some foreign nationals. The locals are pretty upset with the road carnage, understandably. We've seen it for ourselves. Enough said.
A nice lunch stop, but with the number of biting flies we ended up eating inside! Then I spent a little while clearing them out from inside! However they continued to bite us for several hours afterwards as we drove the windy narrow roads...hard to defend oneself!! Of course they knew this!
The interior was sunny and so much like the Okanagan Valley. You be the judge. Even a few vineyards.
A few nice peaks,
So that was our day. Not too shabby, followed by a death grip grocery shopping experience when we arrived! Now we sit in our quiet lake and mountain view camp site waiting on the barbie to be available, drinking a very pleasant Saint Clair Estate Pinot Gris from Marlbourough. Yummm! I know that the Sav Blancs are the thing here, but the Pinot Gris and Gewurtz are quite nice as well.
The wind was howling at about 60 knots! It was amazing, and Gil, not a boat on the entire lake!
Tomorrow we drop off our home on wheels and kick back in Queenstown for a few days and get organized for our 5 day cycle on the Alps to Ocean route that was opened just a couple of years ago. We met a local tonight involved with cycle racing here and he was excited to hear that we were doing the route. Apparently it's on he and his wife's to do list. He reminded us that there is also some climbing on the route...yes, thanks for that! We've seen the profiles! Hoping for sunny weather, but the forecast needs some work if that's going to happen. Oh well, at least we are here and on the road again!
Last thing, there are these odd Jucy rental vans everywhere on the S Island. If you ask me, too bright to sleep in, but hard to miss!
Oops! Put this one in the wrong blog! That wine was better than I thought...oh well Annemarie is posting there tonight.
What a beautiful place--thanks for showing it to us!
ReplyDelete