Departing early this morning, we headed towards the plains of Edoras from Lord of the Rings (the Ashburton Lakes District of the South Island). Expecting to see some fantastic scenery, none of us were prepared for what we really saw...scenery like you wouldn't believe. Antja got her off-roading fix in while driving throughout the somewhat remote region of New Zealand, including fording streams and gravel roads (our white rental car is no longer white...lol). After many, many stops through the rolling plains complete with swaying grass, lakes, horses, sheep, and cows we set aim to Franz Josef Glacier, a drive which would take us through Arthur's Pass and the Southern Alps. The drive was absolutely beautiful and while in the township of Arthur's Pass we checked out the visitor center and a couple of lookouts onto the phenomenal grade of the mountain (and feat of engineering!!). We met a couple of extremely friendly Keas (a species of bird). We then pressed on to Franz Josef, settled into our chalet and grabbed some takeaway from a local restaurant. We caught up on some random items before settling into bed to grab some slumber before our hike of the glacier the next day!
