Glenfern Villas is really nice. It's too bad we got here late last night and we're leaving today. They're like one bedroom apartments that sit at the base of a beautiful valley. Each unit has a living room wall that slides open to reveal your own deck.
After breakfast in Franz Josef we hiked out to see the glacier up close...which was no easy feat given the fact that I could barely walk from the water slide debacle the day before. The glacier was beautiful but also surreal considering how close we were to the ocean. It was strange to stand in an expansive valley with a rushing river and stare at this big whitish-blue mass of ice wedged in between the valley walls. It was like we were watching the land get carved and shaped right before our eyes. Unfortunately, we couldn't actually hike on the glacier without a guide so we got as close as we could. The pictures just don't do it justice--it photographs so small.
We also stopped by a view point to check out Fox Glacier. It didn't seem nearly as big and dramatic as Franz Josef but it was still impressive. After that we walked out to Lake Matheson to get the classic New Zealand shot of Mt Cook reflecting in the water, but it was too cloudy and overcast. It was a nice walk anyway and the lake was pretty.
Afterwards we continued on our trek to Wanaka, stopping long enough for a coastal picnic in Bruce Bay. The drive over Haast Pass to Wanaka was absolutely incredible! We saw an overwhelming amount of snow covered peaks and amazing waterfalls plus the usual eye popping valleys. I stopped several times to take photos but gave up once I realized the sheer enormity wasn't going to fit in one quarter of my viewfinder.
We arrived at Te Wanaka Lodge close to 5pm. It's an adorable little ski lodge with the most incredibly comfy beds and a big communal kitchen, dining area and lounge. They have a great wine bar that's all on the "honor" system. You just take what you want--a glass or a bottle--and write your name and room number down on a piece of paper so they know what to charge you. The wines were local and seemed to be priced fairly. They also had a wood hot tub that you reserved for 30 minutes at a time. We wandered around town and had dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant that was on the second floor across from the lake. After dinner we sat in the hot tub and then got a bottle of Pinot Noir and played Scrabble by the fire.
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