Fox's Glacier Mints

left Franz Josef today. The staff in the hotel we were staying in laughed at our complaints about the room they gave us (gaps in the bathroom door, funny smell in the room, damp marks on the ceiling) which wasn't very good. it rained today, the first time that it has been really wet, but I suppose we are in the middle of a rain forest. Stopped in Fox Glacier. It is very different to Franz Josef. You can see it stretching down from the misty peaks of the snow clad mountains to the barren valley below. They were doing some construction work to widen the causeway to the car park and the diggers kept on making this booming noise, like a rock slide, it was eerie. The glaciers are awesome sights. They seem to belong to middle earth or another age. The Monster and i forgo walking to the ice front of Fox glacier because neither of us were wearing our tramping clothing, and it was very wet, but we did get to wear our rain jackets for the first time! Had a 4/5 hour drive to Lake Wanaka, across more mountains and one lane bridges and endless bending roads. I have got much better at cornering now, and know how to plan my trajectory to swing the car fast around the switchback curves coming down the mountain! Wanaka is lovely, on a very large lake with the snowy mountains in the background and hills in the foreground. We made a real find with the accommodation. It is a apartment block owned as holiday homes and rented out when the owners aren't using them. We have a proper living, dining and kitchen area, a nice bathroom and a bed room each. We also have a balcony with views of the mountains and lake. It is only about 5 mins walk from the centre of town. We have our own parking space and the building manager provides a wide selection of DVDs to borrow. i think we will stay here a couple of days. It will be nice to spread out. We also have our own washing machine and dryer!