It was a long drive, but there was plenty to look at

That's me in the middle!
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We left the wineries behind in Nelson for the long drive down the west coast of the South Island.  There was about 8 hours of driving to do, so we got started earlier at about 6:30.  This isn't as bad as it sounds since bed-time ranges from 9-10:00.  Don't judge, jumping out of things, hiking, rolling down hills, and drinking wine is very tiring!

The first highlight of the morning was the country's longest swinging bridge.  As a child who grew up during the age of Indiana Jones, I'm quite a fan of the swinging bridge.  It was long and vertigo inducing since it stretched out over a pretty significant gorge, but it was also cool!

A view of the swinging bridge.
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The road down the west coast of the South Island is a bit like the Pacific Coast Highway.  It might actually be more scenic, but it doesn't have that same edge of the Earth feeling.  It was certainly one of the prettiest drives I've been on.

Our halfway stop of the day was in Punakaki (give it a try, its a lot of fun to say) for a place called Pancake Rocks.  The sandsone on the beach formed into layers that weathered to resemble huge stacks of pancakes.  There is also some great sounds from the waves crashing into the rocks and caverns that surround the area.  Definitely a beautiful piece of coast line, but all that talk about pancakes made us hungry!  Back to the car for about our 20th peanut butter sandwich (not exaggerating we have been through a jar and a half of peanut butter).

View from the bridge. (Yes the entire country is postcard worthy)
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We finished (or really Haven finished because there was no way she was letting me drive again) the long drive to Franz Josef Glacier and decided to hike out for a look a the glacier itself.  Apparently there are only 3 glaciers in the world that flow out into temperate rain forest.  Two of them were here within 20 miles (Franz Josef and Fox Glacier) and one is in Argentina.  It's a bit of a weird sensation to walk out of the rainforest and see a giant river of ice coming out of the mountains.

The bridge in the distance
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We wanted to hike up to the glacier face, but unfortunately the trail was closed because part of the hike was in the riverbed and the river had been changing course.  We didn't come all the way to New Zealand not to get a good look at the glacier though so we hopped the fenced and crossed the river ourselves.  We didn't make it all the way to the face but we certainly got a better view.

The pictures are all from Franz Josef Glacier but the next day we went for a hike on neighboring Fox Glacier.  No pictures though because it was raining pretty much the whole time.  Still a good half day and it was fun to hang out on the ice.