South Island Day 9 & 10

Waking up in Hokitika was not a treat. Saving money is awesome, but freedom camping has its drawbacks. I guess that no bathroom/running water and fear of being rousted in the middle of the night are the big two, especially when it's raining so all three of you are sardining it in the back of the campervan instead of two in the van and one in the tent. Occasionally we managed to find a freedom campsite near a public toilet, but usually we focused on finding a spot where we could be inconspicuous.

Hokitika is nothing special. We did a little obligatory souvenir shopping: Brent was counting on his fingers how many people were in his office that required tchotchkes. But we drove on quickly, eager to get to our next destination, Franz Josef. We settled in to one of the cooler campsites we'd seen, threw the frisbee, cooked dinner, and visited the backpacker bar on site. But all of that was after we enjoyed a couple of happy hour drinks on a nearby bar patio. The view was pretty okay.

Crappy liquor is still popular at bars down under.

Franz Josef is a very small city with one purpose: get to the glacier. There are a couple of famous glaciers on the south island, and we decided to hike the Franz Josef glacier. Gluttons for punishment, we naturally chose the full-day hike. I wrote down that the day lasted from 8:15am to 4:40pm, although sense of time feels sort of skewed after you strap on crampons and zig zag your way up a glacier. It's the coolest thing.

First view of the glacier

Feeling pretty badass

Our guide actually was a badass

Just the absolute coolest thing.

Back down from the mountain, we headed out to Queenstown to hopefully find another freedom site and get some rest before Brent's last day with us. As always, even snapping photos from the moving van was breathtaking.