The glacier hike really was a highlight of our trip so far. As Anne said, she loved the equipment. Whenever I made an hilarious joke or got confused between my life and the first act of The Empire Strikes Back she eyed her ice-pick thoughtfully. She's made noises about getting herself one, even though she's not bothered about going glacier hiking again.
We lazed about exhausted on Monday. We watched two movies on video, which was very luxurious. Reviews later.
Fox Glacier minutes
We left Franz Josef on Tuesday morning, and were soon in the Fox Glacier village. We weren't there long, but did stop off at nearby Lake Matherson. This lake is famous for being dark and still, enabling a great reflection of the mountains. We did an hour walk around the lake but there was a little wind and that meant the surface of the lake wasn't flat enough for a reflection. Doh!
Haast end of nowhere
We only drove for two hours on Tuesday, and stopped for the night in Haast. There's not a lot there and the YHA hostel was woeful. Really poor. We used to like the YHAs, but we've had some dodgy YHA hostels of late and are going for more of the independent ones with a bit of character.
We treated ourselves to a whitebait pattie for lunch and spent the rest of the day reading.
Wanaka
Wednesday we were up early to drive to Wanaka. We wanted to be fresh for this drive as we'd heard the Haast Pass through the mountains was very pretty. It was. There's some great views and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
We arrived in Wanaka to find that the hostel we'd booked into, The Purple Cow, is really very nice. Every room has en-suite facilities and there are lots of nice touches. Very refreshing. Almost wish we were staying longer but we're off to Queenstown on Friday.
We didn't loiter in the hostel as we were keen to get to Stuart Landsborough's Puzzling World, just out of town. There's a 3-D maze there (it's on two levels) and also an illusion section. Part of that was some rooms built at a 15 degree angle, so you can roll snooker balls "uphill" and sit on a chair and roll up the room. Very impressive.
In the maze you're supposed to get to each of the four corners. Anne beat me to the first two corners and gloated a lot. I beat Anne to the third corner and was waiting there for her for at least ten minutes. She was baffled and I watched her confused face. I laughed at her a little when she finally arrived, but she was in a bit of a mood and in no state to admit defeat. I also beat her to the fourth corner. Thus, it was a draw on towers, but I won on timing overall. Anne doesn't accept this. Even as I write this blog she's standing behind me getting angry and saying, "Just leave it!" and poking me in the back. Sore loser.