Day 12 - Franz Joseph Glacier

This morning we woke up excited to explore the Franz Josef Glacier!  We decided not hire a tour operator to hike onto the glacier as we had heard bad reviews.  We wanted to do the ice-climbing adventure, but my knee simply isn't ready for that.  So we opted for the 1.5 hour hike to the base of the glacier.  The experience was amazing!

There are so many incredible waterfalls all around the glacier.

Here is the glacier up close.  Notice all the rock and sediment on it as well as the crazy colored water coming out of it!

Mindy goofing around!

An awesome view as we were walking away - the sun finally came out!

After the glacier hike, we got back into the car for a 4 hour drive to Wanaka - in the ski area region.  On the way we snapped this pic to commemorate our niece's first birthday.  Happy Birthday Avery!  Also - Happy Birthday Kerry - our big brother.  They share the same birthday.

As usual, the drive was stunning!

The inland lakes are amazing!

We checked into this fantastic B&B (Te Wanua I think it's called) and had dinner at Trout restaurant while sampling some of the local brews.