Road Trip part II: Wanaka, Glaciers, and West Coast 12/10/12 - 12/14/12

Our next stop was Wanaka, which is actually just north of Queenstown; we had to make the first part of our road trip a circle in order to see the sights we wanted to see.

The coolest thing for us here was Puzzling World, a really neat mind boggling place.  The inside was full of mind games, illusions, trickery, art, and puzzles.  We had just as much fun as the kids!

Outside was a life size maze that tests patience and skill.  We lack a little of both at this point in traveling, but we conquered it (maybe just a little longer than the 1/2 hour it should've taken).  The hardest part was getting back to the start (where the exit was) once we made it to the end destination.

From there we made a quick stop at Lake Hawea, a gorgeous, still, blue lake, and then headed up the West Coast section of NZ to the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers.  Along the way there were some cool spots to stop and check out, including a few rivers with crystal clear blue glacier water.

The Fox and Franz Josef glaciers are two of New Zealand's largest glaciers and most easily accessible.  We contemplated purchasing a helicopter trip to see the glaciers, but the weather wasn't great and we decided to make it a day of walking instead.  Of course, from all reports we heard and saw, the experience you get with a helicopter is well worth  it and makes for a remarkable time.  However, as we did not do that, what we saw was interesting, but dirty, and nothing in comparison to our experience on the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina.

After we set up camp near Fox Glacier, we drove 5 minutes outside of town to Lake Matheson.  On a clear day the lake can provide incredible reflections of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman in the distance.  We made it out  to the lake at dusk time and thoroughly enjoyed the views.

After the glaciers, we continued our trip up the West Coast and stopped off at a few more captivating view points along the way including more "blue pools" and the famous pancake rocks in Punakaiki.

The region we covered in this post had some of the most beautiful landscapes you can imagine.  The anywhere from 2- 8 hours we drove each day were not as bad as it sounds given that the surrounding scenery was incredible!  Despite the scenery, this region was also one of the worst for the sandflies!  Kristin was not a fan of these little bugs.  Bugs seem to love to bite her, and these were no different.  In order to protect herself she wore the outfit below, even though it was probably in the 70's, maybe 80's.  Yes, her pants are tucked into her socks. Quite the fashion statement.

Not a happy camper, literally.