It's December 31st around 9 p.m. at Fox Glacier. I just wanted to say a quick hello from this beautiful place and wish all of you the very best in 2008.
I said goodbye to Dave and Steve early this morning as they headed off to Haast, about 120 km down (actually lots of mountain passes up!) the road. We've been cycling in the Southern Alps for the past several days and I'm pooped! Night before last in our Okarito campground after 8 hours of cycling some big passes from wherever the heck it was we started, some French women - Florence and Gaelle - and I befriended each other. They're traveling with a van and two bicycles and have been taking turns cycling and driving. Florence is becoming a permanent resident here and her best friend from the Haute Savoie region of France (the Alps) is visiting her for a couple of months. They offered me a ride from Okarito to the Franz Josef Glacier and the great full service campground where we all are staying. Since we hit it off so well, I decided to hitch another ride with them tomorrow to Haast and then maybe to Wanaka, where I'll connect again with Dave and Steve on Wednesday, catch a bus to Christchurch, then to Picton, take the ferry, and arrive back in Auckland on the 5th of January in time to meet Steve's wife Cathy.
Wish we had more time here! The landscape is stunning... glaciers, mountains, rivers, waterfalls. The people are friendly. The prices are high! Today I decided to do something special and took a half hour helicopter ride over the glaciers. It was breathtaking! I had a big smile on my face for the entire ride.
Off to drink some champagne with the French. I've been speaking lots of French (and there are a lot of other French tourists here besides!) the past couple of days and have to sometimes remind myself where I am! More later!
Love,
Judy
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