Our last days on the South Island

We headed towards the west coast and booked a tour to hike on the Fox Glacier. It started off as a cloudy day, but nothing we weren’t used to by now. Then the rain started to fall, just as we were ascending 800 steps through the sub-temperate rainforest on our way to the ice. The glacier was enormous with a bluish tint and tons of deep crevices that could swallow you up with the slightest slip. By now it was starting to rain pretty hard, and we could hear the booms of ice on the terminal face breaking off. We hurried off the glacier and back towards the parking lot avoiding falling rocks and icy surge waves along the way. After drying off a bit, we found a basic campsite to spend the night and parked beneath a tree hoping that this would help prevent the van from leaking. The “daylight” woke us up early in the morning and the rain had not let up one bit. To make matters worse, a window had been left cracked open throughout the night and our van was infested with what seemed like hundreds of sleeping mosquitoes! We both freaked out and started driving towards shelter so we could open all the doors and windows without getting soaked in the process. Luckily, there was a gas station nearby with an awning…that was a close call and we both managed to escape with just a couple bites. The rain kept coming down and we decided to drive north until we found sunshine again. It was still raining a few days later, but we finally found nice weather in Nelson! Since the sun was shining, we decided to do some kayaking in the Golden Bay, which is part of Able Tasman National Park. We would paddle through glistening waters for a while, then pull up on the beach for a bit to catch some rays. In Nelson, we enjoyed a short hike to the center of NZ during the day and a delicious steak dinner at Lone Star in the evening (not the same as the American version….much better). After a couple days of city life, we had to make our way back to Christchurch, but not without a short stop in Havelock, which is apparently the green lipped mussel capital of the world. They were very big and tasty! While in Christchurch, we sadly said goodbye to the van and prepared for our early morning train ride to Picton where we would catch a ferry to the North Island.