Mountains to the sea

5-mile lagoon.

This isn't a sight you see every day. I didn't think my jaw could drop any further but when I rounded the point and saw this I literally stopped in my tracks.

After the excesses of last night (we could barely move after dinner), I headed up to the trig again, this time with my camera and was treated to uninterrupted views of the Southern Alps and Franz Josef Glacier.

It was a cruisey kind of day - except I'm not very cruisey when there are places to explore ;-)

I didn't think I could be any further wowed but heard about a trip beyond 3-mile lagoon where we were yesterday and onto 5-mile lagoon. It was well worth the 4 hour plus round trip to stand at sea level, just above the water line and look straight up Franz Josef Glacier.

Tonight we had a pot luck dinner with the local community. There was so much food left over from last night I didn't think we had to do anything extra. It was held in Donnovan's store, one the lovingly restored few remaining buildings from gold rush days. I met some great characters and enjoyed talking with some of the locals. I'm humbled by how they have welcomed us.

A day rounded off on the beach watching the sun set over the Tasman Sea with the mountains softly lit behind us.

Bliss :-)