Queenstown to the Glaciers

After Te Anau and the gorgeous Milford Sound area we drove to Queenstown, famous for its adrenaline activities. The most adventurous we got though, was a trip up the skyline gondola with views over the town and lake. It was a lot higher than we thought and because of this we saw some amazing views, as once again illustrated by our photos.

From here we travelled over the mountains to the West coast. The weather wasn't great, it rained a lot, but this was actually good for the waterfalls and rivers we saw along the way, which were all gushing with water. We went to the West coast to see the world famous glaciers, Fox and Franz Josef, only 20km apart. They are the some of the lowest glaciers in the world, which is why we can access them so easily, and they move around a metre a day. 
We organised a guided walk on Fox Glacier, the bigger of the two and it was a really fun and different experience. After a walk alongside the glacier after being dropped off, we put on our crampons and ascended the ice staircase onto the glacier. Part of a path was chiseled out for us, but as we got higher we had to rely on our crampons to keep us upright. Unlike you might imagine it wasn't any colder on the ice than elsewhere, but we were wearing extra layers anyway. We were on the ice for a couple of hours and also saw a compression cave, which was beautiful. It's formed from the ice pushing down on the steeper parts of the valley. The glacier ice wasn't as white as we thought it would be, but still really spectacular.
In the afternoon we went for a walk round Lake Matheson, a famous viewpoint for Mt Cook and Mt Tasman reflections, but unfortunately for us the wind had picked up and we couldn't take good photos, but the walk was pleasant.
Next morning we walked to Franz Josef glacier, just so we can say we've been to both.