Lindis Pass to Franz Josef

As mentioned in the previous report, we had a long drive ahead of us as the road was closed just before Franz Josef. However, we were woken up by a playful possum on the roof during the night. As we watched it, it curiously came up to the window... So at 9 o'clock we left Akaroa - under blue skies and sunshine. So we had to make a few photo stops - and Noor had to vomit, of course... It was quite a struggle through Christchurch and to Timaru, and we made slow progress! Just before Glenavy, we took a small road towards Omarama and drove through the river valley, past huge herds of cows and vast expanses. In Kurow, we refueled, ate fish and chips, and the kids tried our favorite ice cream for the first time - Goody Goody Gumdrop and Hokey Pokey... We continued over the Lindis Pass and the lupins along the road were beautiful! Just before Lake Hawea, it started pouring down rain! Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka had waves like the ocean and streams were flowing over the road. I decided that we would stay in Makarora and only leave for Franz Josef the next day. The kids were very well-behaved during the 8-hour car ride and I didn't want to drive through the middle of nowhere in this heavy rain, knowing that even the Haast Pass was single lane in parts... In Makarora, there was only one accommodation that luckily had a room available! So we settled in and went to bed early. In the morning, more rain was predicted, but we woke up to sunshine. So I kicked everyone out of bed because I wanted to make use of the good weather window! After a hasty breakfast, we set off towards Haast and took a walk to the Blue Pools. The water was more greenish, but we were alone and walking through the rainforest was adventure enough! The road was washed out several times and waterfalls were coming down everywhere beside the road. There were also smaller and larger landslides in some places. Even Alex was now convinced that my decision the day before was right! We had sunny windows at the lookouts again and again! The Fox Glacier has been completely closed since December 9th, as the rain has created a large gap in the riverbed! We arrived in Franz Josef around noon and were able to check into our room right away. Shortly after our arrival, it started pouring down rain again! Later, we went for a walk through the 'village' and for a brief moment, we could even see some snow-covered mountains. Tomorrow, the sun is supposed to shine and we will hike to the Franz Josef Glacier!