Onto Franz Josef!

Tuesday the 12th: Kristin and I drove the remaining 5 hours to Wellington, where we would get our Indian visas and catch the ferry to the South Island. Our only major stop was to do part of 'the best day hike in NZ/world'. We only had time for about 30 minutes in and another 30 minutes back out, which was enough time to get us to a backcountry hut. This was our first look at one of the many backcountry huts and we were very impressed. It is not like the shelter on the Appalacian Trail, this is like a hostel in the woods. It had a nice kitchen with sink and gas cookers and bunks for sleeping. There was a beautiful view of a volcano which was several hours hike away.
We did not arrive to Gareth and Anna's until about 10:30pm. We had a setback because I forgot to write down Gareth's phone number from my email earlier and then we could not find anywhere to get online. It took looking in 3 different towns and then driving about 30 mintues out of our way to a larger town that had an internet cafe. Then we had the challenge of finding somewhere to buy a phone card so that we could make a call at the payphones (very few of them will take coins, they only take prepaid cards). We had a great time with Gareth and Anna and got some good guidance for our time in the south island.

Wednesday the 13th: We got up and went to get our Indian visas, well at least turn in our applications, and had plenty of time to get to the ferry by noon. The three and a half hour ride was rockier than we expected for such a big ship on a very clear day, but we went inside and watched a movie and did some south island planning. And lo' and behold, Kristin did not get the least bit seasick. We checked into a hostel on the edge of the town where we were dropped off(Picton). It was bright and cheery. At dinner we met a great couple from Wales celebrating 40 years of marriage with a 2 month trip.

Thursday the 14th: Valentine's Day! We started the day with a couple of hours of kayaking in the bay by the hostel with their old sea kayaks. The wind and water got a bit rough on us, but neither of us flipped and the scenery was great. I loved looking at all the small sailboats anchored in the bay. We biked down to a local spot in hopes of picking some mussells for dinner, but we hit the tide was too high. So instead, we had a great dinner of steak and potatoes, along with some New Zealand red wine, while taking in the beautiful bay view from the hostel.

Today we are headin to Franz Joseph, where we have a glacier hiking tour set up for tomorrow.