North to the west coast.

Today was just a day of travel from Queenstown to Franz Joseph.

The seating system on bus tours is that everyone rotates seats each travelling day. This way everyone gets a turn in a front seat. We were up the front today, and what a great scenery day to be there.

We had lots of stops, the first being not far out of Queenstown at the original bungy jumping site. We stayed long enough to watch the first jump of the day although he just stepped off the platform rather than dive.

There was spectacular scenery the entire way - lakes, snow capped mountains, waterfalls, driftwood covered beaches…

As we neared Franz Joseph, there was a little concern that the cloud would be too low for us to see the glacier. It was decided to go in and hope to see it. From the car park there is a walk to the viewing area. Fortunately, the cloud was just high enough for us to see the toe of the glacier in the distance.

This was as far as we were allowed to go. This viewing area is where the glacier ended in 1908…Read more