Wildfoods and Franz Josef

Yesterday there was a really spectacular sunset, but I won't see many of those on my trip...

And today I even got to experience a carnival after Ash Wednesday. The Wildfoods Festival is something between a street food market, an alcohol-fueled party, a carnival, and a fair. It's a special event. The crowd is a bit on the hillbilly side, but it has nothing to do with the costumes! And the most important thing: the food. It ranges from pulled pork sandwiches to wild boar tacos, lamb testicles, or giant Egerling mushrooms (which are freed from the wood live, see photo).

I mainly indulged in various wild dishes, which were mostly very tasty. Especially the Thar mini burger (a type of chamois) and the wild boar taco were amazing!

Before things got out of hand (I was already warned), I headed south. What I realized along the way: the sea is great and beautiful and spectacular, but nothing beats the mountains for me.

My final destination today is Franz Josef Glacier, named after the glacier itself. I hiked to the glacier, which despite its retreat due to climate change, is closest to the sea compared to any other glacier in this latitude. The many signs saying 'What you can do against climate change' are quite strange when a helicopter flies to the glacier every 5 minutes (no exaggeration) to drop off people.

While shopping, I ran into the two Austrians again. Especially here on the South Island, there are few opportunities to choose different routes because it is sparsely populated, especially on the west coast. Maybe we'll meet again in Queenstown...

But now the evening is being kicked off with a cider! Cheers!

P.s.: because the internet is so bad, I'll upload the remaining photos as soon as possible.

P.p.s.: the photos are complete!