New Zealand Road Trip Day 2

We woke up in Hokitika, took some money out at the ATM and got some essential food, BUMPER BARS!, and we were off to Franz Joseph. It was a couple hour drive from Hokitika to Franz Joseph, which turned out to be a pretty cool town even though we were only in it for about 20 minutes. In Franz Joseph, we bought our phone cards, which of course did not work, but we sent our first welcoming emails to our families and friends back home. After that quick pit stop, it was onto the Franz Joseph Glacier. Honestly this thing was one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. It was about a 40-45minute walk to the glacier, but what was crazy is how far the glacier had receded since the early 1700's. We walked through a river bed which was almost dried up, but trust me, after a storm this area would be gushing with water all over. We walked as close as we were allowed and for the first time saw the beauty of New Zealand as we stood like midgets in a huge valley with mountains surrounding us with waterfalls poking out throughout them and a massive sheet of ice in front of us. We stood in amazement for awhile, but knew that we had to get back to make it to Queenstown that night. We got back in Nelson, and Jeff hopped in the drivers seat for the first time in a foreign country which drives on the wrong side of the road, scary thought, I know. I did the drive from Franz Joseph to Haast, where Caroline then took over for the night shift. It wasn't too bad of an attempt for not driving a stick in the past 3 years. We drove past some amazing mountains with huge blue lakes at the bottoms, the scenery was breathtaking. However, the horrors came as Caroline took the wheel. We were on our way in the darkness to Queenstown when we hit a patch of black ice and sent both of us screaming like little girls. Nelson regained his position on the road and slowly we made it towards Wanaka as our hearts slowed down. We saw light in Wanaka and absolutely went crazy for seeing people; however, our night was not over. We drove through Wanaka and pushed forward towards Queenstown. But once again, the roads did not like us, as soon as we saw the lights of Queenstown we are making our way down a mountain. This mountain was much like whatever that famous street is in San Francisco which curves back and forth, but this was on a mountain. After screaming about how dumb this road was and seeing a man with a boat driving up the mountain, which we thought was absolutely proposterous, we made it to safety in Queenstown. Before even checking into a camping ground for the night, we stopped for a beer and some steak at the Speights Ale House. Speight's is as they say, the Pride of the South. We made our way to the Creeksyde Camping grounds where we spent the night in safety and made it on to day 3 of our adventure.