Lake Hawea, New Zealand

Nelson Lakes National Park

Our national park field trip carried on as we progressed south through:

Nelson Lakes National Park: appreciated a serene winding jog around the lake;

Poparoa National Park: watched gleaming sunsets over the ocean (very PCH); also saw unique pancake-looking rocks but missed the spurting blowhole due to the timing of low tide and... out the corner of our eye we caught the quickest glimpse of a kiwi bird (score!); and 

Westland National Park: climbed to a lookout above the Okarito Lagoon, gazed upon a cloud covered Mt. Cook, and yes, observed the stately Fox glacier.  (Sidenote: we hope to return to the Franz Josef glacier in a few weeks with Ken’s brother and sister-in-law, so more pictures to come).

The drive along the west coast of the south island - rated as one of the top ten in the world - was unforgettable.  After racking our brains through various drives we had taken, we had to agree with it’s ranking.  The weather turned chillier and rainier as we traversed south, not surprising as we were appropriately cautioned by the locals - the west coast of the south island is infamously waterlogged.  The last few mornings we awoke to windows of condensation, shivery extremities, and the classic “look, you can see my breath it’s so cold” routine.  

On another note, a pop quiz.  This picture taken in Ross, NZ is:


a)  a microwave
b)  a mailbox
c)  awesome
d)  all of the above