It has been strange to experience "downtime" in the last 48 hours after going non-stop for the first week!
After leaving Wanaka, we headed to the small town of Fox Glacier. Along the way, we made a pit stop on Haas Pass to see some beautiful blue pools! For some reason, I have an odd obsession with swing bridges and this short, 30 minute trek didn't disappoint!
Looking back, we should have probably continued straight to Franz Josef but we decided to stay in Fox for the night. We split nachos at one of the few restaurant choices in the township and then headed to a beach campground 15km away. We thought for sure that Gillespie beach wouldn't be crowded considering the poor quality of roads and the distance from town but boy were we wrong, it was PACKED and had an extremely small area for parking! We squeezed into a spot that wasn't actually a spot and scurried to check out the beautiful, black sand beach. The size of the waves crashing right on the shore was insane. I took a video of them and wish I could post it here for all of you to see!
I reluctantly took off on a 7 mile hike with Tyler in hopes of seeing a local seal colony... Sadly, after submerging our shoes in mud multiple times, skipping rocks into a lagoon and feeling like we could be starring in Jumanjii, we turned back to camp without any new, furry seal friends.
We treated ourselves to a bag of Golden Waves (the NZ version of Sunchips) before a great night's sleep in the Goon Mobile.
We didn't waste any time leaving Fox Glacier and arrived in Franz Josef at a perfect time for brunch at the Aviators Cafe. This is a fitting name for a restaurant in a town that has a constant buzzing of planes and helicopters overhead with tourists making their way to the Glacier! I wish I could say we took one of the aerial tours but it was Christmas Eve so we decided to take a short hike up for a different view of the glacier. The clouds were extremely low so unfortunately we could only see a small portion of the lower glacier... The morning is always better if you plan on visiting (or viewing) either of these glaciers!
After two, somewhat disappointing hikes, we decided to sulk in the hot tub at the Rainforest Retreat, where we were spending our NZ Christmas Eve. Several tour buses were stopped at the hostel for the night so we made new friends immediately! What an awesome way to travel... This group included people from France, Ireland, Germany & San Francisco!
The motel/hostel/park was attached to a Bar & Restaurant, The Monsoon, and we were told that it was the place to be on Christmas Eve, at least until midnight. We used the community kitchen to cook our stereotypical, American meal in honor of Christmas Eve... Chili-cheese dogs and potato chips! After a glorious hot shower, a short nap and a few ciders... We headed over to join the party at the Monsoon.
Once the dinner crowd cleared out and the locals started filtering in, the Monsoon did not disappoint for people-watching and dancing. Not a typical Christmas Eve, that's for sure, but it was definitely a blast!
My favorite parts of the last 48 hours? The free hot shower, a real bed and clean laundry! I feel like a new person and I'm ready to take on the rest of new Zealand!
Merry Christmas from this side of the world!!!
XOXO
Elissa & Tyler
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