Sunrise over Lake Paringa A beautiful view to wake up to over Lake Paringa. We were packed up and on the road before 10am a first for us. We stopped at Fox Glacier for lunch and a look around - unhooked the car and low and behold 'Flat Battery' OMG what else can go wrong. We had lunch while we waited for the AA to jump start the car.
Miners Cemetery at Gillespies Beach Then we went to Gillespies Beach, wonderful drive through the bush, and beautiful beach and we also went to the miners cemetery (gold) we think mostly Irish graves. Moved on to next stop along twisty hilly roads to Franz Josef (27km from Fox) and the NZMCA camp stop where we met up with Linda and Peter who joined us for happy hour! After dinner we went for a stroll around the village and checked out the hot pools where we thought we might indulge ourselves tomorrow night. Interesting village its all bars and motels!
Sunset from Franz NZMCA Camp Thursday woke to another incredible frost everything was white again (not snow this time). We checked out our neighbours washing machine and generator. Oh the luxury! We drove to the Glacier carpark which was as close as we could get to the ice but couldn't see anything I think it was quite a walk before you could see it, Ray has sore foot so that was out of the question for us. We then headed north of the village to Lake Mapourika where there were a group of kyakers enjoying the still lake. From there we went out to Okarito Beach which was yet another scenic drive to yet another lovely beach with lots of driftwood and beautiful stones. On the way back to Franz we stopped at Okarito lagoon and The Fork which is the meeting of water from Lakes Wahapo and Mapourika, where there is a small hydro electric station and then back into the village to see the Flowing West Movie, a great film about the Glacier Country mostly shot from Helicopters so for Margaret a bit scary at times, but she did enjoy it. Happy hour tonight was at the Spittles 5th Wheeler enjoyed by all! Followed by dinner, Coro Street, doing this blog and bed. Ray thought Hot pools would not be a good idea with his bung foot so have left that treat for another time.
