Blue Lagoon Traveler

 3/14 /2024 Thursday  Where in the world are Christine and Mary! We woke up in our fabulous hotel to a crisp, cloudy and misty morning.  We were headed out to see a couple of glaciers and take a couple of hikes around a lake and streams.  Oh no, I took a few steps and my knee felt funny - no worries - it’s not swollen and I don’t remember hurting it - so I figured I could power through the hikes!   First stop, we went to Te Kopikopiko o te Waka, which is a scenic viewing point, as well as a cultural heritage site.  We were supposed to be able to see the Fox Glacier as well as Mt Cook and Mt Tasman, which are a part of the Southern Alps. Supposed to is the key word!    Te Kopikopiko o te Waka (waka means canoe), is the first site to depict a tribes story on the South Island.  It is a modern design and depicts a Ngāi Thai (a Māori tribe) creation story.  In Ngāi Thai mythology, Aoraki and his brothers - all sons of Ranginui the god of the ...

Wednesday, March 13 The West Coast and Glacier Country  It was time to leave Queenstown Wednesday morning, and as the bus pulled onto the road, Colin remarked on his tour guide mike, "There's soot to our right." I glanced over at the mountains, but didn't see any smoke rising.  Then he said, "Sun's Out Over There."  SOOT. He likes his little jokes. Apparently it's a Kiwi expression. To head northwest on the South Island we first had to backtrack through the Otago region to Cromwell, passing our favorite winery along the way, then turn north with stops along the way to end the day in Franz Josef.  The hazy yellow highlighting shows the way. This map already had other routes marked on it, like the dark yellow from Dunedin to Queenstown we'd followed earlier in the week. We passed some replicas of old gold miners' huts and a small mining town from the Otago gold rush that lasted about 50 years. Just after our ...