In the early afternoon of the 16th we drove out of Queenstown and headed northwest toward the west coast. We stopped in Wanaka for an Indian food picnic lunch by the lake and a break for Lindsay to finish some work. Soon after we hit the road again we were on the shores of the west coast and heading north. The drive through Mt. Aspiring National Park was beautiful and the weather was perfect. Our final destination was a campsite at the base of Fox Glacier. We got set up, and after a beautiful sunset (which I took about 100 photos of), we made some mac and cheese and settled in for the night. The next morning we took a helicopter ride from town around Mt. Cook and landed on Fox Glacier. The night before we had debated the financial appropriateness of the trip, but ultimately Lindsay's desire to spend all of my money won out. Well, it was a good decision. The trip was awesome, heading up the glacial valleys with a birds eye view of all the incredible icy terrain.
After returning to camp, we saw the Fox Glacier from a different perspective and hiked to the terminal edge. From Fox we drove an hour north to Franz Joseph Glacier and hiked to the terminal edge there as well. We stopped for lunch in town and then made our way further up the coast to Westport, with a brief stop at Pancake Rocks and a seal colony. After setting up camp that evening, we we shared a pizza at a bar in Westport and watched a bit of Olympic women's curling. We woke up the next morning in a torrential downpour. Putting the tent away in the rain was a bit of a challenge, but soon we were on the road again and heading toward Nelson. In Nelson, Lindsay did some work while I bought some fresh produce and other groceries and explored the town. It was a short stop in Nelson, and as we made our way out of town toward Abel Tasman National Park, the weather was clearing up.
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