Woke up at first light then set off soon after to Arthur's pass; wasn't exactly very impressive and we heard about the impending storm on the west coast, so we decided to skip the short track and move on.
Went to a play ground in the middle of no where (Hari Hari I think), got some coffee from the local cafe and then continued on to FJ Glacier. Reached and tried to find lunch but everything was pretty expensive so we got a whole chicken from the Super market and came back to our van to eat it with our wraps.
Welcomed by a nice sky, chased by the dark clouds. Also, where we got our lunch.
Settled lunch and then we drove in deep to start our track. Sun was out so the track was made easy; in fact, we were all busy stripping along the way as our body warmed up. Saw the glacier and found it to be rather underwhelming, probably due to recent retreat due to global warming.
This is nicer, really
And this is us with the glacier
Geography lesson! Everyone offers geography lesson in this country
Triggering the budding geographer in me
That's us being wacky
Went back to our caravan after the hike and headed for the Fox Village. Wanted to check in at a campsite with free popcorn but it was closed so we headed to TOP 10, which was pretty awesome as well, we even got their membership so probably gonna stay in their franchise after this haha. First thing we did, hot pool! Just as qingying was asking in the afternoon, they really have such a facility here! And then carbonara for dinner by Chef Jason, which is forgettable - really, haven't cooked for too long. Washed up and it's movie time! (Not presentable to have a photo so yea) Watched the last part of the Hobbits (by accident) which was not too bad but looking forward to LOTR now.
Next morning the storm hit, as anticipated. Wanted to wake at 7 to work out if the rain didn't come as promised but it came, so we slept in. Almost overslept our check out at 10am when we woke at 9plus. Cleared our waste and refilled more water before we check out and cleaned up. The restaurant we wanted to have breakfast in turned out to be closed so we had our heavy brunch at a cafe instead and it's now little wonder why people asked us to just have brunch instead of cooking breakfast, cos they're really good!!
Grocery shopping, pumping petrol, then got ourselves some ice creams (whuuuut) before we set off for our next stop in the rain.
Always a weather for ice cream. Shiok!
Stopped by Haast township along the way to visit the visitor center: no hikes are available (wasn't intending to anyways), and the weather forecast is as bleak as before.
Marsh land at the iSite at Haast!
So off we go, towards Haast Pass and then finally to Wanaka!
