New Zealand is one of the most diverse countries I have visited. From ocean to lakes, mountains to volcanoes and rainforest to glacier, this country has it all. Franz Josef is a small town on the west coast named after the Franz Josef Glacier. The glacier is situated in the middle of a rainforest; it is such a beautiful sight.
We had two nights scheduled here. When we arrived it was raining, nothing new, so we got settle in our rooms and took it easy since we had a glacier hike in the am. Well surprise surprise, we woke up the next morning to torrential rains, as a result the glacier hike got cancelled. So what do we do? We jump right back into bed and sleep till noon! Ahh sleeping in hadn’t done that in awhile!
When we finally got up the weather had cleared so Timo, Trisha and I decided to go for a walk to the glacier. We were gone maybe 3 – 4 hours and got caught in the rain on our way back but it was all worth it. The Glacier was amazing, I wish I could have done the hike but there are things you can’t control. The weather in New Zealand is definitely one of them. Even the Meteorologists here can’t get it right.
When we got back from the hike, all 3 of us headed to the hot pools. It was very welcomed after a long cold wet hike, 3 lovely pools with 3 different temperatures. After the hot pools we got ready and headed in to town for supper. To our surprise only one restaurant was open and of course it was the expensive one. Timo ordered his meal (he was too hungry to wait) and Trisha and I decided to split an appetizer and wait till we get back to the hostel to eat. So my dinner consisted of a can of spaghetti...yummy!
Off to bed early again, well at least some of us tried. I was out cold but Trisha and Timo didn’t get much sleep. The room beside us was partying hard till the early hours of the morning and kept them awake. Unfortunately for them, we were up early to get to our next stop; Wanaka. As we were leaving Franz Josef, the weather was clearing up. At this point I had come to terms with the fact that the sun was not on our side. Maybe Wanaka will change that for us. Or maybe I should keep dreaming!
