Heading north in the south

Still on the south island for a quite a bit longer, and will be returning even farther south to visit Fjordland in a few weeks, but for now we reached a southernmost point in Queenstown so try out a luge track--the ONLY thing SR has been able to come up with when I've repeatedly asked what he wants to do in NZ, so it was a moral imperative but also incredibly fun, with a great view of the city and its spectacular location.

Queenstown's rep is as NZ's adrenaline capitol, and in the afternoon we were there we saw people parasailing and bungee jumping and more, but we kept our wallets in our pockets and fled north. From Wanaka, headed through the mountains and lakes--consistently, ridiculously gorgeous scenery...

...with stops at the "Blue Pools"...

...a cornucopia of magical waterfalls...

...and finally to the western coast with the Tasman Sea stretching far as the eye can see.

Continuing north from where the road (there's only one road; no worries about wrong turns!) hits the coast, we headed north into Glacier Country. Stopped first at Fox Glacier...

...and then its brother, Franz Josef Glacier, both a pleasant hike from the established parking areas, as they both continue to recede farther and farther up their respective valleys at an alarming rate.

 The glacial nature of the area shows itself in other ways, too, like these turquoise glacial waters running down rivers. SR: "Rivers are not supposed to be that color!" Maybe not, but they sure are beautiful.