Glaciers

Forgot to mention the blue mushrooms that we saw when hiking yesterday.  I googled them and as it turns out they are fairly rare but a part of N.Z.'s vegetation.  As it happens the blue mushrooms  are on their $50 dollar bill.  I didn't notice it before.  We'll put a picture of them.  Speaking of vegetation, I have noticed a few flowers that I recognized from our country.  White and pink morning glories grow wild here everywhere. Also. A butterfly bushes that I have tried in vain to grow.  Hydrangea bushes, pink and blue grow wild.  There are more but I can't think of them right now.

The weather here is very changeable.  It seems to always be overcast in the am and sometimes will clear up for awhile and then will rain off and on. Temp in the south has been anywhere from 11 degrees to around 18 when the sun is out.  We are going to loose our tans for sure before we head home.

We stayed last night at Fox Glacier where we had a huge room that could've housed 4 people.  We cooked steak on the barbie and bought salad.  We hiked to the glacier this am.  It was gorgeous.  A lot of tourists there.  It is shocking how far it has receded.  Beautiful glacier streams.  It stared to rain after that.  We were going to do another hike but the weather deteriorated.  We had to get another place even though we liked the one we were in in Fox. There are two glaciers here.  The other one is called Franz Josef.  We got another room right next door to the glacier stNo cooking facilities here, so we bought a barbecue chicken and some salad for supper.

Tomorrow we leave for Lake Winauka on our way to Queenstown which is further south.  After that  we go to Dunedin on  the east coast and then up to Christ Church where the earthquake was 4 years ago.  After that we fly to Auckland in the north and then home.  We are getting weary of  travelling.