Heading to the Glaciers

December 15, 2011

Heading to the Glaciers

Tuesday, November 15^th

Our destination today is the Franz Joseph Glacier, which is in Westland National Park. We stopped in Ross on our way south where I dumped wastewater, while Donna took some pictures of the historic town. Then on south to Okarito (home of Keri Hulme, reclusive author of the Bone People). Okarito is a coastal town with a handful of humble homes and no shops, gas stations, grocery stores, etc. We hiked the Okarito Trig hike, which we did in about an hour. Since clouds had moved in, we missed views of the southern Alps (ah, but over the next few days lots of views of these same Alps). We drove back to the main road, and drove down to the NP visitor center at Franz Joseph, where it had now started raining. Upon advice of the Scottish DOC lass at the DOC visitor centre, who coincidentally lived in Okarito, we camped at a DOC site at Lake Mapourika and planned on seeing the glaciers tomorrow AM, when it most likely would be clear (it was). So we grabbed the best campsite, and had a relaxing afternoon, catching up on photos, early dinner and listening to the rain. We got to our campsite at 4 pm, and it rained steadily (hard at times) all through the evening and night. Donna made Thai chicken and veggies for dinner (Gee have I mentioned how great we are eating, thanks to Donna!)