Day 5: Picton to Franz Joseph Glacier

This morning we packed up and were on the road by 7am. We decided to take a bit of the long route to get to our final destination of Franz Josef Glacier campground and drove north towards the town of Nelson. Anthony and Andy navigated the start of the day, the roads got much narrower and windier and we found ourselves on a road that looked a lot like the road to the sun in Glacier. After about two hours we arrived in the small, quaint town of Nelson. We parked and walked to a coffee shop where we enjoyed a hearty breakfast. Andy ordered an iced coffee to go, which turned out to basically be a coffee shake.  Although not what he had in mind, he wasn't disappointed.

We got back in the van around 10 and were on the road again heading towards the coast and Punakaiki/the Pancake Rocks.  Brit took over driving responsibilities following breakfast while the guys rotated between push ups and cards in the back of the van. Over the next 3.5 hours we drove through wine country, over scary one lane bridges, through farm country and up and over mountains. The scenery was great and we only hit rain every once in awhile. Once we emerged from the mountains the views were amazing as we wound our way along the coast. At one point we saw a small little beach and we pulled over and spent some time enjoying our private beach. We put our feet in the Indian Ocean for the first time and admired the tall waves.

We arrived at Punakaiki around 2pm and enjoyed the walk around the cliffs looking at the pancake rocks. We also saw a large group of penguins on the rocks which was pretty cool. After taking in the sites we went to the local cafe and all enjoyed some “hokey pokey” ice cream, a New Zealand favorite. Vanilla ice cream with chunks of honey in it, it was delicious!

We got back in the car for the final 3 hour leg of our trip, Andy taking the wheel for the first time. His first time driving on the wrong side of the road was smooth, one minor incident of taking a turn and the silverware drawer flying across the van, but that was Anthony's fault as he forgot to lock the drawer. The start of the afternoon drive continued along the coast for a bit and then cut in just enough that we could only see it from a distance. We came across a good sized town and gassed up, there are not a lot of gas stations on the South Island! As we were coming to the end of the town we saw a men's field hockey game going on, Andy pulled over so Brit could run back and take a picture. The men weren't great but the women's game going on behind them was impressive! Brit jogged back to the van and as she got close Andy started pulling forward slowly. Brit chased down the van saying she felt like she was in the movie Little Miss Sunshine, to which everyone laughed and decided that reenacting the scene could be fun. We are looking forward to watching the GoPro version when we get home!

Along the way we stopped in a small town so that Anthony and Kendra could go for a swim. Of course, we did not go in!

We finished the night by making some quesadillas (Andy "helped Anthony cook) and sitting in the common space of the campground. We played cards for a while after dinner before heading to bed and hoping for good weather in the morning.