New Zealand Pt. 3- Milford Sound and Franz Josef Glacier

Spectacular sunset from our hotel room in Te Anau

New Zealand's breathtaking scenery is in full effect in our Pt. 3 blog post. From Queenstown we continued our Southland tour by visiting the Milford Sound and staying in the small town of Te Anau. The Milford Sound is actually not a sound at all. It is a fjord which is defined as a crater formed by a glacier that has filled up with ocean water. We then traveled north, stopping in Wanaka again, and making our way up the west coast to the Franz Josef Glacier. We did a full day tour of the glacier and experienced quite a workout! Not to mention an extremely wet, rainy, cold, day out on the ice. Luckily our tour included all the necessary rain gear and foot protection. The glacier tour was such a neat experience and unlike anything we had done so far. Enjoy our photos! Next we take you up north again to some beautiful beaches! We felt we really had to thaw out! 

Allie with mountains on the way to Milford Sound

The Milford Sound

Nelson with the sound

This is how windy it was the entire 2 hour boat ride!

The mountains make the boats look minuscule. 

The sound emptying into the Tasman sea

Amazing waterfalls all along the sound

Our lodge in Wanaka

View from Rippon Winery in Wanaka

The vines

A bee, busy at work on the winery

Quite a view

Franz Josef Glacier

Nelson on the glacier

Nelson in an ice cave

Allie climbing through an ice cave

Cool waterfalls over the glacier

What's cooler than being cool? Ice cold!

Our crampons we attached to our boots

The blue in the ice is caused by air getting caught in the ice

Not the best face from Allie but notice our tour guide hard at work carving out steps for us.

We have to climb through that?

There she goes!

Hold on tight!

Allie and Nelson hard at work on the glacier

All bundled up in the cold rain, still smiling!