Crossing the Cook Straits to the South Island takes about three and a half hours with two or three sailing in each direction daily. The boat shown below is a smaller ferry than the one we were on with significantly smaller vehicle-carrying capacity.
Once on the South Island we headed over to the west coast passing deer farms (of which there are many in New Zealand) and beautiful coastal sections and beaches. We arrived at Pancake Rocks in the early evening and strolled around the site. The tide was out and so the blowholes were not active. The interesting structure of the pinnacles is attributed to the finely bedded limestone strata and their erosion by water and wind.
Moving south the next day we reached Glacier Country, famous for the two glaciers: Franz Josef and Fox. Both glaciers are receding rapidly and the views, at the best of times, are less spectacular than in the past. In addition, torrential rains, landslides and river undercutting the month before had played havoc with the roads and trails. Long story short, together with poor weather, the experience was less than spectacular. We had one more chance at glaciers with Mt. Cook. It did not disappoint.
We did, however, have a lovely walk round Lake Matheson renown for the reflections of the Fox Glacier on its surface.
End of the trail – Franz Josef Glacier 
Fox Glacier 
Fox Glacier 
Mount Tasman 
Mount Cook shrouded in cloud 
Lake Matheson with reflection
We encountered many lakes and waterfalls, including the Blue Pools. The “swing” bridges are fun. They typically can accommodate up to 20 people and, although they are actually suspension bridges, they do tend to swing both left-to-right as well as up and down.
Someone always has to jump from the bridge! 
Just before the descent into Queenstown this “installation” appeared on the roadside. It is a local fund-raising effort in support of breast cancer research. There were thousands of bras on a fence in the middle of nowhere.
