Lake Matheson

According to the Lonely Planet guide book, views of Mount Cook's and Mount Tasman's reflections in Lake Matheson are one of those picture-perfect landscapes that you find in New Zealand. Looks like they were right.

We went to the lake just after sunrise. The early birds were rewarded with beautiful morning scenery of the New Zealander countryside...

Up in the clouds, Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, followed closely by Mount Tasman, next to it.



















Cook 'n' Tasman.







Upside down or right way up? I like playing with mirror lakes.



















Then we decided to have breakfast after our morning walk. As the sun was out, we hung our clothes on the car (they were soaked after the previous day's rain), making it look like some free laundry service provider. Unfortunately, a few minutes after we'd completed our beautiful post-Christmas car decoration, it started to rain... Unlucky.

Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers

We arrived at Franz Josef in pouring rain... Hence the relatively small amount of pictures of this glacier.







However, the next day at Fox Glacier was rather sunny and so you lucky people can have a better look at it.












It truly looks like a sea of ice that crawls up (or down, depends how you see it) the mountain. Very very impressive, I have to say.

Hari Hari

I never would have thought I'd stop in Hari Hari. But as we drove through this village on our way to Franz Josef (yes, that's a town), we saw what looked like an old fashioned festival, with people dressed in 19th century clothes and playing tennis ye old way... So we decided it would make for a nice break. And indeed, it did.



















































Je n'reconnais plus personne... en Massey-Ferguson...








Jeu, set et match!

Punakaiki

After filling our lungs up with pure mountain air, we drove off to Punakaiki, a tiny place renowned for its "pancake" rocks and blowholes. But before getting there, we had dinner by the beach.











Now's time for you to understand what pancake rocks are: