Day 9 - Christchurch to the West Coast

This morning we picked up another rental car (at the airport) for our grand tour of the West Coast, Fjordlands and Southland. And although the weather was still drizzly, the scenery over the Southern Alps to the West coast is nothing short of spectacular. We enjoyed the drive over Arthur's Pass, through the incredible Otira Gorge, and down into Hokitika, New Zealand's jade carving capital. We spent a couple hours shopping around town and eating lunch. The jade 'factories' were interesting, but there are also some very talented artists that still carve the jade in the old fashion way. Some of the pieces we saw were absolutely breath-taking and the artists spent time telling us about their work. We bought a classic fish hook design from Gordon Wells that is just exquisite.

We continued down the west coast towards glacier country and our day's destination of Franz Josef. After checking into the Glacier Gateway Motor Lodge, we headed up to the Franz Josef Glacier viewpoint right away. Even in the wet and overcast weather, the glacier is a magnificent site. There are many nice trails to different viewpoints and interpretive signs along the way. We are hoping for the forecasted clearing of the rain for tomorrow because we would like to take a helicopter flight over the glacier. For now, though, it is back to the room for dip in the jacuzzi!