Canadian in KL: NZ Day 17, 18 and 19. Fox Glacier to Wanaka to Te Anau

It rained most of the night in Fox Glacier and was still raining when we got up. Packed, had breakfast and set off, heading for Wanaka. A longer driving day.
Headed off down the road and after an hour or so passed the UK cycling lad who we had met on the Franz-Joseph glacier hike the day before. Felt guilty about not offering him a lift, but didn’t think about it until too late. This day was our introduction to the New Zealand Sandfly. We stopped to make coffee at a beautiful viewpoint on a long beach and only when we were driving afterwards did we realise how many unwanted passengers had crept into the van and were looking for exposed skin to settle on. We still did not realise our predicament until the ones we squashed started showing the effects of having fed! We stopped the van and hunted down all we could, still not anticipating the degree of itchiness these little b****** could generate!
Several short stops on the drive, but nothing really major. We arrived in Wanaka, found the campsite and settled in. Turned out to be a very cold night, but we woke to beautiful sunny skies and views across the lake and prepared to set off to Arrowtown and Queenstown. We saw some crazy weather reports of snowstorms in Queenstown, which was only an hour’s drive away and laughed about how badly the weather forecasters could get it wrong, and set off.

*View across the lake at Wanaka. What a lovely day…*	*Another lake view, Wanaka*	*But a little way along the road over the pass to Arrowtown…*	*And here is the Chinese settlement in Arrowtown*
*Main Street Arrowtown. Arrowtown is a beautifully preserved/renovated townsite.*	*The hotel on Arrowtown mainstreet*	*The lake south of Queenstown*	*The lake waterfront at Te Anau*

Before long we were in winter driving conditions and snow falling all around! It continued to Arrowtown, a gold rush centre, where we had coffee and a lok around in somewhat miserable conditions. Then on to Queenstown which was in similar straits! Since the weather forecast suggested that the weather in Te Anau might clear before it did in Queenstown we decided to head on there to try and not waste a day on weather and drove on to Te Anau. Again we were wrong! Te Anau was snowy too and the road from Te Anau to Milford Sound was closed because of the conditions! So we spent trhe day in Te Anau doing some local exploring and staying in a motel that was much more welcoming than the one in Fox Glacier!