Day 7 Somewhere near Wanaka

Today we woke up in our fancy 'top 10' Holliday park in fox glacier. Heather coughed all night, but luckily Chad said he didn't notice. The weather app said it would be sunny from 8-10 am, but it lied. After walking back and forth through other people's campsite (no clear part to bathroom or kitchen) we got on the road to lake Matheson. Lake Matheson is supposed to be an amazing reflection lake, however secondary to the clouds, the mountains were completely covered :( we tried to walk slowly, but the mountains never came out. A note to ourselves, and whoever may read this, if it's clear go to Lake Matheson regardless of if it is a good time of day. If it's still clear that night or next morning, go again. It is where most of the typical "this is NZ photos/paintings" are done. After a conciliatory chai tea we headed to fox glacier.

Upon arriving at fox glacier there were still lots of low lying clouds. The bonus was there were no helicopters. We hiked up a very steep hill (with no stops allowed secondary to potential rock fall) and at the top there was a foggy/cloudy view of the glacier. There were also two kea parrots. They had very hooked, sharp looking beaks, and apparently like to destroy parked cars. Chad could see why as many people tried to get as close as possible to them. Them destroying car antennas was probably some sort of pay back. We took a couple pics and headed back down the steep hill. At the bottom of the hill we turned around and the clouds had cleared right above the glacier. Mother Nature is a bitch! We got a couple nice pics of the cleared glacier and then got on the road.

On the way to mount aspiring national park we tried to stop at an ocean overview, but the sand flies swarmed us as soon as we got out of the car, so we pushed onward. We had lunch at roaring billy falls walk. We met a funny Israeli guy we did the hike with. We didn't know if he saw us leave and chased after us because he needed a break from his family or he figured we were Americans and needed to find out what was on our minds. He asked us "what the fuck is with Donald trump" he proposed a "non religious, non gender, iq tested colony on NZ for people from the world, which we thought wasn't a terrible idea. We then went to Thundercreek falls and fantail falls, Chad liked thundercreek better. The water in the river and under the falls was a beautiful aquamarine blue color from the glacier flower. Next, we hiked a stiff 1/2 mile uphill to a lookout of both sides of haast pass. Once again the clouds covered our main view, but we were able to get a peak at mount Brewster before the clouds completely hid it.

A quick trip to the Blue Pools where the water was completely clear and bright blue concluded our hiking adventures for today. Young foreign boys were jumping off the swing bridge into the pools until a film crew told everyone to vacate the bridge so they could have a clear shot. I asked what they were filming and the kiwi responded "an ad for tourism NZ, like we need more people coming to this place". Kiwis are pretty abrupt and sarcastic, we like it.

We made our way a few KMs down a gravel road to Kidds Bush camp site. It is our first DOC (Department of Conservation) camp site that we have stayed at. It's about half the cost of the typical "Holiday Park" (KOA),but has unpotable running water and flushing toilets,but no shower. It is also a free for all. If your van or car/tent will fit, you're good to go. It still seems much more peaceful than a Holiday Park though. We are nestled on Lake Hawea, where the sunsets are great, although short, and the stars are amazing. This is one of our first adventures that we have been graced with this little light pollution, clear skies and no moon.Read more