We had a beautiful hike today up to the Rob Roy Glacier.  The road in had us fording five streams and we went over nine cattle guards – the steel guards on the road that keep cattle and sheep from escaping from their field.  Well, they almost worked.

Not your father's Ford. Look out for the stream!

We're used to the sheep being behind the fence. Not necessarily here.

So, we went to the Rob Roy Glacier today.  You can partly see why it was called the Rob Roy.  This spot has a strong resemblance to Scotland.  It’s so beautiful, yet still untouched. You drive something like 50 km on a dirt road through range/farmland with sheep, cows, wheat and such.  After an hour or so you finally get to the end of the road.  That’s the hint that it’s time to hike.  Then it’s about a 2 hour hike up to the glacier where the view is just breathtaking.  We even witnessed an avalanche!  We were eating lunch and heard an explosion!  Since the sky was clouding over the first thought was thunder, but a quick look up the valley and we could see where a part of the glacier broke off and was thundering down the mountain.  Very humbling.

The only problem is the glacier is so big and so grand, it’s almost impossible to capture on camera – but here’s the best we could do.

Starting our hike among the cows...

Glacier fed river...

Moss on the rocks on the hike in....

View of the glacier...

Close up of the glacier...

Ann of the mountains...

Glacier Waterfalls...

Alpine flower...

So…rain tonight.  We’re spending tomorrow (rain) walking around the town or Wanaka.  Then onward to TeAanu where we’ll stage for our Doubtful Sound boat trip scheduled for Sunday.  We planned it for clear weather but it looks like we might have some rain.  We’ll see.