On to Franz Glacier

Well, there are two major glaciers on the west coast of NZ that people see. one is called Fox glacier and the other is Franz Joseph glacier. they say Franz is more spectacular so our bus goes there. we are here right now and that's where i'm typing from. we are staying in a place called the Rain Forest Lodge. It really is the rainforest here. however, it's the most amazing thing to see a rainforest juxtaposed with a glacier running into it. who would think the two could go together with temperature and climate? it's cool here. it actually rained yesterday and they predicted rain for today, so julie and i postponed our half-day hike on the glacier until tomorrow (Friday). well, the weather was absolutely gorgeous today so we could have gone today. instead we took a day of rest around the town. we needed it. it was nice to sleep in. i'll have more news on it tomorrow after our hike. it should be great b/c we will hike up onto the glacier here. we are praying for great weather. it's really beautiful here! we will be in Franz for a total of three nights. tomorrow we are staying at the Glow Worm lodge just for a change. Then sat. we have bus tickets to get back to greymouth and meet Al for a ride back to Christchurch. the following day (Sun) we are heading up north i think to Kaikura. after seeing more places on the south island we take the ferry across to the north island including wellington, taupo,rotorua and back to auckland. we won't make the bay of isles, sadly. i just have to come back! i'm thankful we can do side trips from some of these cities to nearby places we should see, too, like we may go to Waikapo from Taupo. I also heard from Rotorua we should go to Mata Mata to see the "hobbit houses" from Lord of the Rings!! That would really be cool. they tore down all of the sets, except for this one b/c the local farmer asked for it to stay.

okay, i'll talk to you later! Thank you for your comments and emails! i love reading them!