Post-Christmas NZ

Dec 26 - Woke up to rain at our campsite in Te Anau. Packed up and drove to Fox Glacier. I believe this was the day that I looked at the map and saw a scenic route "short cut" and decided we should take it. Well.....it wasn't exactly a short cut! It was a crazy route going up up up into the mountains...rained the whole time...I think Jeremy was a bit nervous - we were REALLY high up. Saw a lot of cyclists on that road. Crazy buggers!! (Really though, super dangerous - no bike lanes, wet, narrow road, lots of blind spots) Stopped briefly in Wanaka and then kept going to Fox Glacier. The rain didn't let up for a second. This was a disappointing day, since we had planned to camp at Gillespie Beach at a beautiful site and take a 3 hour walk to an "unmanned" seal colony. The torrential rains prevented that and we were forced to take shelter in a hostel. On the bright side, the owner was extremely nice and we had a good cheap meal at the restaurant. Chatted with some kiwis who were out 'tramping' and then made friends with a bus tour group who also were supposed to be camping, but were rained out. Played CHOCOLATE PICTIONARY!! So cool!