After our day at Fox Glacier, celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary, we started for home in the morning. Because we had all day, we decided to do some walking at Franz Josef first. Our first stop was at Peter’s Pool, which reflects the peaks beautifully.
While we were admiring it, a pair of Paradise Ducks landed.
Once again, this was the closest we could get to the glacier. It’s frustrating to know that 12 years ago we were allowed to walk right to it, but now this is the end of the permitted track. No wonder there weren’t a lot of people there!
Notice this rock? We liked the way it split up between layers!
After leaving Franz Josef, we went to Okarita Lagoon, the nesting site for white herons. We didn’t see any, but the lagoon and beach were beautiful.
Notice the black sand? It was full of sparkles in the sunlight, although I couldn’t capture that with my camera. I brought home a big handful of the blackest sand for Mr. Imagination to try panning, since it probably has gold in it.
In Hari Hari we stopped to see a mosaic garden.
Many different people contributed to this garden. Some pieces are memorials to loved ones. There are a lot of bits of broken dishes. It’s fun to wander around and spot all sorts of little things in here.
Just out of Hari Hari, we stopped for lunch beside the Wanganui River, and this weka came to check us out.
After lunch we walked up the river to locate some hot springs a neighbor told us about. They aren’t signposted, but a local had laid out some clues and marked a path with small piles of stones, so we were able to find them.
I saw a lot of bubbles coming up in this area.
Our last stop was in Hokitika, where we watched this tui checking out the blossoms.
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