Possums (not foxes), glaciers, mists

There are two glaciers as you pass down the west coast - Franz Josef and Fox - and you have to go pretty much past them, so it would be a shame not to stop off.

On the road there we briefly stopped at a bizarre cafe and wildlife exhibit (recognisable by a giant fly sculpture above the door) which explained that it would like to sell us possum pies but is not allowed to by law unless the possum has been supplied by a licenced possum supplier, of which there are none in NZ. But! They have caught and killed some wild possum, and would happily give a wild possum pie to anyone making, say, a $4 donation.

We got back in the car and went to look for a normal cafe.

We got to the glaciers in light rain and were advised to head straight out to see them. You can go on walking tours or even helicopter drop-offs onto the glaciers, but we went on a glacier in Canada last year so decided to save a little money for once. It didn't seem the best day for it, as it turned out, with rain and a bit of mist hanging atmospherically around some of the slopes.

 Meet Franz Josef...

You can't walk up to a glacier without an organised tour for safety reasons - they are always shifting, chasms open up, rocks and ice fall - but you can get fairly close, and they are impressive. I think Canada spoiled us a bit, because the Columbia icefield there is perfectly situated to be visible from miles around in various directions, whereas here they are tucked around corners with a bit of a walk to get to them, but if I'd never seen one before I'd be pretty excited. They are properly craggy, with unexpected shades of blue, and both of these have a cave underneath with aluminium-grey rivers of water surging out of them. (Glaciers grow from rain falling on top and freezing, and shrink from meltwater running off, so they advance or retreat according to which is happening faster. These guys are on the advance at the moment, and they move pretty fast - 1-5 metres per day, so the safe area gets marked out afresh each morning, and the guided tours have to hack out new ice steps each day.)

Franz Josef is the bigger and more popular.

 ...And his friend Fox

Fox, half an hour down the road, is a bit smaller but quieter and you can get a lot closer to it.

Specifically, this close

We walked to Franz and back in the rain and decided to get to Fox straight after - the rain mostly let up for that one, which was nice but a bit too late.

Very pleased that we saw both glaciers when we did, because by early evening the rain had turned torrential - and stayed that way till lunchtime the next day, making for a fun drive combined with fog. We paused at one scenic lookout point on the coast, Knights Point, which was pure fog - whatever was supposed to be there, we mist it.

The rain abated after lunch but had probably charged up the tall Thunder Creek Falls and pretty Fantail Falls...

...and finally the sun broke out as we drove along the shores of Lakes Wanaka and Hawea, both such a stunning deep blue that I tried to take my sunglasses off to see what colour they really were, then realised I wasn't wearing any. Against a wall of spectacular mountains that wear a little belt of cotton-wool clouds halfway up and a second layer at their peaks, it is everything you could ask from a scenic drive.