New Zealand Day 3: Glaciers, a Lake and the Sea

When the girls woke up in Franz Josef they were cold. Elyse needed her jacket and then a blanket. We aren't used to this weather :)

After we got ready for the day we headed into town and got to see a couple of Kiwi birds at the West Coast Wildlife Centre. They are cute little birds but seem so awkward without wings.

A kiwi egg is almost as big as an ostrich egg.

We couldn't take pictures of the kiwis inside, but did get a photo op with these guys:

Next we continued on to the glacier. Following the advice we had been given at the hotel, we took the short (kid friendly) route to view the glacier. It would have been nice to get closer, but our kids would have not made it so much fun. Anyway, we took the 15 minute hike to the look out.

pretty...

On the way back down the path, Elyse and I saw a stream we decided needed exploring. We touched the (COLD) water, saw some spiders and threw some rocks into the stream.

AT the end of the walk Elyse was a bit grouchy and decided to take a break on this rock.

Then we moved on to Fox glacier. Instead of going to the base of the glacier we went to another viewing point. We got to see the glacier just as the clouds descended.

This dial was cool. You would line something up in the viewfinder and then take a look in the dial to see the name of it. On a clear day we would have been able to see Mt. Cook.

Down the road from the Fox Glacier lookout was a Lake Matheson so we decided to stop and walk around the lake.

Elyse found this fern leaf and called it Rosetta. Rosetta could help her run fast and had superpowers :)

On a clear day this spot is known to show great reflections of the mountains in the lake. It was still pretty on a cloudy day.

AT the jetty we saw some ducks. Ducks seemed to be a highlight for Anastasia throughout our trip.

More exploring.

At the lake they had a cafe and gift shop. We got lunch and then bought some souveneirs- a plate with a fern on it, a Christmas ornament, and toy birds: a kiwi and a penguin.

We left the lake just as it was beginning to rain and headed to our stop for the night in Haast at the Erewhon Beach Motel. Although it was raining when we arrived in Haast we headed to the beach which was right across the street from our hotel.

We had fun looking for shells and interesting rocks.

Toby and Elyse had fun throwing rocking into the waves.

After the beach we headed inside for dinner (I actually cooked one night on this vacation). After a tough night (not much sleeping for some reason) we woke up to rain and headed off to our next stop Queenstown.