Glaciers and lakes and blue pools, oh my!

For the first time in awhile we weren't in a huge rush to get out of the door this morning so we got to sleep in a bit. Hooray! We had a quick breakfast at the hostel of fruit that we had brought and banana bread that was shared with us and we checked out. Today's agenda was to drive along the west coast from Greymouth to Wanaka (about 5 hours driving time) and do some hiking along the way. It was a gorgeous clear day so the weather was perfect for it.

Our first stop after 2 hours of driving was Fox Glacier. First we had a picnic lunch then we began the ascent up the mountain to see the glacier. It was about an hour hike round trip so not so far, but it was about 35 flights of stairs up according to my Garmin fitness tracker. On the way up we used our LifeStraw and drank some of the glacial water that was flowing down. It was so crisp and clean tasting; it was so refreshing! I'm pretty sure we could've just drank it even without the LifeStraw. Drinking water straight from the stream made me feel really adventurous. :)

I'd never seen a glacier before so I didn't know what to expect but it was pretty cool. We could only get so close due to safety reasons. They also have helicopter tours that will take you on top of the glacier but we didn't want to spend that much money. But Fox Glacier and the one right next to it, Franz Joseph glacier, are pretty unique since they are the only two glaciers in the world that also touch a rainforest (at least I'm pretty sure that's what the sign said).

Our next stop was only 20 min from the first one, and it was a quick 40 min walk there and back to Lake Matheson. It's a well-known lake here because when the conditions are right it creates a perfect reflection of the mountains, including Mt Cook. This is because of a distinctive brown color it has and the right conditions for the water to be still to make a mirror. We didn't get to see the reflection since there was a slight breeze that was stirring the water up but it was still a pretty view.

Then we went another hour and a half down the road over and around mountains and stopped at the Blue Pools. This was a 30 min round trip hike and well worth it. It's aptly named since the water is crystal clear with a blue color. This is because the water is super cold glacial waters. It was gorgeous. It was so clear you could see right to the bottom even though it was clearly pretty deep. This was proven by a guy who jumped into the water from the bridge we were standing on, and he didn't die! I have a picture of him jumping.

Down by the water there were also a ton of rocks which someone had come along and made a zillion rock stacks. It was pretty cool actually. Then I tried my hand at it and made my own rock stack. Turns out it's not really that hard when you have a plethora of flat, evenly-weighted rocks.

Here's me with my rock pile:

Then we continued on our southerly journey another hour to Wanaka. It's on Lakes Wanaka and Hawea and surrounded by mountains. It's a gorgeous area. We were actually recommended this area (and the Blue Pools) by Chris from Airtrek, who we bought all of our flights from. He and his wife actually got married in Wanaka.

We planned to stay at a cheap motel in Wanaka, but turns out when we were booking it last night we accidentally booked it for a month out. Whoops. Almost everything was booked up already so we had to find something another town over, Lake Hawea. We were able to find a lodge and pay more than we intended, but it is nicer with our own bathroom and kitchen.

Oh, another fun part of today. On several of our treks we had to cross several swing bridges. Those are the ones where it kind of swings and bounces as you walk. Yikes. I made the boys walk several yards behind me since I don't like the way they make it bounce and swing.

 Tomorrow's plan is to hike Mt Cook, so I better get some rest. Night all!