We ran out of adjectives to describe the beauty we saw on our drive from Franz Josef (middle of west coast of the South Island) to Wanaka (a bit south of the middle of the South Island) yesterday. The drive would’ve taken about four hours without stops, but we took about 6.5 hours because there were so many things to stop and stare at wonder at.

Do you remember what it felt like the first time you saw an HD TV and everything was so much, just, MORE than you were used to seeing on a screen? New Zealand is like that in real life. I think the fact that we started out in mist and fog may have enhanced our experience, because the sun came out as we drove and the colors around us began to pop. We said “WOW” out loud so many times it became comical after awhile. We would turn a corner and just laugh because the view would be completely different all of a sudden and even more beautiful somehow. It was fun to stop at various photo stops and just stand in awe along with a dozen other people also just standing in awe.

Photos just do not do it justice, but here are some anyway. Note the Dr. Suess-like trees and the crystal-clear creek water.

We pulled into the town of Wanaka just in time for a movie at Cinema Paradiso, a very quirky theater where you can sit on couches or in a car! It is British movie month, and we saw a very sweet movie called The Three Urns, which we both highly recommend.

Imagine this being the view when you step out of your neighborhood movie theater!

After the movie, we picked up some groceries, checked into our hotel, and had some great burgers for dinner in town. We then went to a lookout for sunset; our hotel host told us we could take a selfie with the mountains and the water in it, and she was right!

All this and watching the election results come in–what a great day!!