NZ Day 8 : Franz Josef (the glaciers...)

26/9/10 (Sun)

This morning we went shopping in a supermart called 'New World' in Wanaka. We spent NZD 26 grocery shopping for cabbage, bananas, ginger beer, 4 ribeye steaks, half dozen sausages, a loaf of bread and dorito chips. (You must be so amazed I remembered all that! lol)

At 10.30am, we finally left Wanaka to head towards the Glaciers. Discovered more 'hidden' lakes along the way, like this Lake Hawea.

Awesome view.

Beautiful clouds!

Perfect setting for the Loch Ness monster to emerge from the waters...

The magnificient rainbow I saw after a light shower. Nice, eh.

For Mark...

It was some 150km drive along the coastal roads, passing lakes and forests (including the famous Mt Aspiring National Park; which is worth going if you have the time). The journey was really different compared to our past few days. Apart from the rain falling harder, the roads were getting steep. What impresses me the most were the numerous walking tracks along the way; some leading to waterfalls. Seriously, if I had an entire day, I would wander through the parks (which are actually forests).
We even lost GPS reception a few times along the way.

Finally, we made a stopover at a town called Haast.

One of the very very few cafes in this tiny town was Funtrail Cafe.
What I ate...and drank...yup, my usual hot choc.

What deardear had...

Back on the road, passed this very very long straight (deserted) bridge.

We had to be cautious of falling rocks at some corners.

'Knights Point' sounded interesting so we had to find out what it was.

And we discovered yet another lake; Lake Moeraki

Dear with the tallest structure there.

More coastal driving after that; a sign that we were reaching...

...Fox Glacier right ahead!

The temperature wasn't too cold coz we were more up north....I didn't need to zip up my jacket anymore. It was perfect!

So many tourists there too!

A short drive from Fox Glacier and we arrived at Franz Josef - the more popular glacier destination.

As usual, a friendly YHA staff checked us in for a cosy stay in F.J.

Our room looked so orangey! I felt like I was holidaying in an island or beach in the summer.

Yet another impressive and clean hostel.

Very spacious bathroom cum toilet. Left side's the shower cubicle which you can't see from this angle.

One of the cleanest YHA kitchen I've ever used.

What a delight to see the range of free-for-all-to-use spices.

The lounge and dining area were brightly lit.

We had no outdoor activities planned for the rest of the day, so all we did was play scrabble.
(please excuse any visual vulgarity you see below :p)

And we cooked one of our best dinners in NZ. Ribeye steak (3 minutes on each side produces the perfect 'medium rare' steak) with mushroom gravy + sausages + stir-fried Savoy cabbage (it's damn cheap in NZ) + tortilla chips (why does Doritos taste so much better in NZ!!) + ginger beer (we were so hooked on this while in NZ). Damn SeDAP!

Lights were out by 9.30pm.....and this was the first time I needn't have wear my long john to sleep.

Yey! The room felt just nice. 

YHA Franz Josef definitely gets my vote as second best YHA in overall.