We woke up in the morning and got ready to depart Franz Josef. We went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast again and then hopped over to the West Coast Wildlife Centre to use there WiFi before we left.
Once that was all done we got into the car and made the long trip to Queenstown. The maps said it was about 5.5 hours of a drive and we needed to return the rental car by 5pm. So we left ourselves 8 hours. The first leg of the trip was quite difficult. The day before it took us less than 5 mins by helicopter to get to Fox Glacier however it was 30 or so mins by car. They were some hairpin turns and steep inclines into turns. Once we got out of the mountain the drive wasn't so bad. We were on the very west coast which is pretty flat and has quite a few straight aways. Our first stop was Bruce Bay a nice coast line what the Brits we met told us about. The waves were huge and I took my chance to get my feet wet in the Pacific Ocean. We hung out on the beach for a little while to take some photos but also to take in the ocean view. We got back into the car and I decided i would drive for awhile. We got to a bathroom break which happened to be on the coast again. We got out and took a bunch of photos. This stop had an outlook that we climbed. We also walk out onto the beach to take in the ocean again. These were our only two chances to see the ocean so far. I believe our Milford Sound cruise is the only other chance. We carried on in not too long. We wanted to make our stops short to not waste much time. We started back into the mountains and I continued to drive. One thing that I noticed between New Zealand highways in the mountains is that it is slower and more natural. In Colorado the seem to cut huge paths in order to keep the speed up. There was also no tunnels. One spot on the road we came up to a bridge with people on it. I didn't know why they were standing on a single lane bridge but I soon found out. The river rapids below were amazing so Dan and I parked and took some photos. We also decided it was a good time to switch drivers. Dan began driving and it wasn't long before we stopped again. We drove up to a huge mountain lake. Lake Wanaka looked absolutely stunning with the mountains behind it. Dan was absolutely amazed and he decided it was necessary to stop. I got the camera fir the next lake and snapped some good photos from the car. All in all these mountain lakes are gorgeous surrounded by peaks covered with trees and/or snow. We came out of the mountains and into a valley filled with vineyards. The valley is called Central Otago and we think is the region we will be going on our vine tour. Now the trick will be to document the vineyards and see if we can find them in the US. We are not planning to bring or ship any wine on the plane so we will have to hope they carry some wines at home. Pretty soon we got into Queenstown and made our way to the hotel.
The hotel is located a short walk back from the water but with great views. We got the chance to upgrade our room and we got on on the top floor. It has a nice view of the bay and mountains. With the balcony outside it allows us to relax and take in the mountain region. We will be staying here for 4 nights and so the nicer room is worth the extra cost.
We returned the rental car and decided it was time for dinner. We ate pretty early and had a fun meal. The restaurant gave us free champaign and so we decided to go with it and tried some of their cocktails as well. I ended up a little overindulged and so Dan finished my last drink. By 6:30 I was ready for bed though for some reason I felt it was time to give Dan a pedicure. The concentration helped to ease my drunken stupor plus Dan's toes look absolutely splendid. We decided to head out to take some photos of sunset. We have some amazing photos compliments of Dan's photography skills. This new camera is awesome in aiding our picture taking skills. We can play with the light and create silhouettes.
For the remainder of the night we just used the Internet in the lobby and went to sleep.
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