It was sad to say goodbye to our beautiful Azur Lodge where we have spent the past four nights but it was time to get back on the road. We picked up the car but were a bit slow getting started and finally headed out of town at about 1 o'clock. We knew we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us and the first section took us up over the Crown Range to the lakeside town of Wanaka. What we hadn't bargained for was scary hairpin bends, very steep drops off the side of the road and driving above the snowline!

It was an interesting drive to say the least, but very enjoyable, and the lake at Wanaka is really beautiful so yet another photo opportunity! From there we took Highway 6 all the way over to the west coast and the Tasman sea. At the risk of sounding repetitive, we can only say that the scenery on the way was absolutely stunning! Narrow roads and steep bends winding through amazing mountains and breathtaking lakes. Iyt seems that in New Zealand there is always plenty more where that came from!

We reached the west coast and were into rain forest country and glacier country. The road along the coast was a bit faster and we made good time. However, the last 25 km from Fox Glacier along to Franz Joseph Glacier was so slow and so many narrow bridges and hairpin bends that we were crawling along and by the time we reached Franz Joseph it was dark which made the driving even more challenging. If you ever do that trip it is definitely best to get there in daylight!

We found Westwood Lodge (with a little help from a friendly local lady), unloaded the car and went straight back down to the town to get something to eat. Actually it is almost too small to be called a town but has a big heart and a very lively atmosphere. Most restaurants were quite full but we found space in the Blue Ice cafe where the food was excellent and the service very friendly.