After four days of fun in Queenstown, we were headed for Franz Josef Glacier! We stopped to pick up some fruit and snacks at Jones’s Fruit Stall. I usually like to bring home snacks for friends, because I find it to be more useful/practical than getting little trinkets. IMO, little trinkets can become clutter unless there is something meaningful behind it. Or maybe I’m a cold-hearted (insert word of choice here) and just not that sentimental. :)
Next stop was Wanaka’s Puzzling World where we first had to go through an outdoor maze to get to the entrance. It was harder than it appeared, and since I don’t enjoy being a rat in a maze, I found it extremely annoying.
BUT once we got in, we enjoyed taking a lot of cheesy optical illusion photos. :)
Afterwards, we stopped at Makarora Country Cafe for lunch and wifi and then ran into a bit of traffic. Here we have a new zealand traffic jam caused by sheep.
We took a short hike to the Blue Pools (30 minutes roundtrip), which gave a little taste of all the amazing scenery you can find even on short hikes from the main road.
Such gorgeous blue water. This is probably one of the few times I wished I brought a polarizer to minimize the reflection, but still gorgeous nonetheless.
We also made a stop at Thunder Creek Falls, and finally headed into the town of Franz Josef.
Timeline of our day (2012.12.01):
- 9:30-9:50 AM Jones’s Fruit Stall
- 10:00-11:15 AM Wanaka’s Puzzling World
- 12:30-1:15 Makarora Country Cafe. Free wifi
- 1:30-2:15 PM Thirty minute roundtrip hike to Blue Pools
- 2:30-2:45 PM Thunder Creeks Falls
- Dinner + Drinks at the restaurant located at our hotel (Dinner was included in contiki tour price)