Rain, precipitation, and then water from above

Since I didn't upload an enthusiastic post yesterday, in which I enthusiastically reported about my epic adventures on the glacier, it can only mean one thing: The tour was canceled.

Because the weather was so miserably bad, they canceled all tours for the day and the following day. So, I don't know if we just had a lot of bad luck, but especially because the weather on the west coast is known for its rainy side, I'm starting to wonder how the company can survive. But maybe that also explains the prices: if a tour actually takes place, they have to make as much money as possible from it.

Well, that's it for now.

To be honest, I'm not too sad. Of course, it would have been a great experience, but at least I got to see the glacier, we're contributing to environmental protection since no helicopter flies, and most importantly, I'm getting a bunch of money back. And I can easily invest that into other great things.
If there should still be some time left, I can consider coming back and trying such a tour again, but that's rather unlikely.

Because the weather was really bad though (almost 24 hours of continuous rain, there were only differences between rain and heavy rain), we couldn't even do anything proper. Hiking was out of the question and we had already walked all the hiking trails anyway.
So we had a very relaxed breakfast with pancakes and waffles and then went to the Wildlife Centre in Franz Josef. There, two specimens of the rarest kiwi species in New Zealand live, with only 400 individuals left in this area on the South Island. I love kiwis, that should be obvious by now, and so I had a lot of fun watching the two of them as they searched for food.
Unfortunately, no photos were allowed again, sorry...

And not much happened for the rest of the day: sports, reading, planning, packing. Nothing worth mentioning, really.
In the evening, to celebrate the day and the money we got back, we went to a fancy restaurant for dinner, wearing sweatpants and flip-flops. I hope I never see those people again...

The next day, if possible, the weather was even worse. Perfect weather for a bus tour, but there is so much to see in the landscape, after all, we're talking about New Zealand.

About 1 hour south of Franz Josef is the small town of Fox, the gateway to Fox Glacier.
There is also a very famous lake nearby - Lake Matheson. It's called a 'Mirror Lake', which means that on a clear and calm day, the surrounding mountains and glaciers are reflected in the lake, making it difficult to distinguish between the reflection and the original.

Well, initially the weather was anything but good. You couldn't even see the mountains and glaciers in their original form because the clouds covered everything. And because of all the rain, the lake was very choppy, of course.
I was at least one of the brave ones who embarked on the 45-minute walk around the lake, and I think I was the only one who actually completed it. I was completely soaked and cold, and it didn't even really pay off. But no one can say that I didn't try...
For a short while, I could warm up in the café before we continued on the highway southwards.

The next stop was Haast, another small town on the west coast. I only mention it because there was a life-saving toilet break there.

More interesting was the road south of Haast. The landscape is supposed to be very similar to the famous Milford Road in Fiordland: high mountains, valleys, gorges, and - waterfalls.
With 280+ rainy days per year, Milford is the rainiest region in New Zealand, but the West Coast comes just after. Probably around 270 rainy days. And on particularly rainy days like today, you can see thousands of waterfalls clinging to the mountains. And we're not talking about cute little streams, those were masses of water cascading down the mountains!

Slowly, the bus made its way along the road, and I tried to capture some impressions of the landscape. But I had to take photos through a wet window, so the result is rather sad.

After a total of 5 hours on the bus, we approached Wanaka. The weather immediately got better - no rain, no low clouds, almost some sunshine. Until it started raining again. I'm starting to despair...

Nevertheless, there are countless hiking trails in and around Wanaka, and I would love to do them all. That may be difficult to achieve, but I have set myself very high goals.
As a loose guide, I have a brochure about Wanaka that lists Instagram spots, i.e. places where you can take good photos for social media. I've already visited the first four spots today, let's see how many I can do in total.
The hostel is terrible and the WiFi is limited as well. A really bad combination, it deserves bad reviews. But that means I'll have to take a few internet detox days again so that I can at least continue the blog.