Jacksons Retreat and Jacksons Historic Tavern, dating from 1868, make up Jacksons, but both were so good we stayed a couple of nights, to explore the mountains and lakes despite indifferent weather. The morning of the 18th greetedus with fresh snow on the mountain tops as we headed off to the west coast and Franz Joseph.We stopped briefly at Hokitika for refuelling and drove on to Okarito, where the entire population of New Zealands white herons breed at this time of year. We had a bracing walk along the beach where banded dotterel defended their nests among the stones. Arrived late afternoon at the smart Top 10 site at Franz Joseph and had excellent meal at Beeches later on. Monday morning was reasonably clear so we had an early start to go up to the glacier, which was less white than the brochure had claimed and frankly a little disappointing in comparison to European and Canadian glaciers. We didn't hang around too long, particularly as access to the glacier edge was discouraged, and headed down the coast road to stop briefly at Haast. The weather had become typically wet by then, but improved as we headed inland from there towards Wanaka through the spectacular Haast Pass and alongside magnificent Lake Wanaka, where we stopped for a short walk. We had made good time so decided to go the extra 100k to Queenstown