Queenstown to Franz Joseph and onto Nelson

Queenstown to Wanaka - spectacular road except our windscreen was cracked by a passing truck. Wanaka not worth stopping for unless you are going to stay outside of town by the lake

Highway 6 from Lake Hawea to Haast is another quite spectacular road via the Haas Pass which rises to a height of 562 metres (1,844 ft) above sea level at the saddle between the valleys of the Haast and Makarora Rivers. As such, it is the lowest of the passes traversing the Southern Alps

Haast town/village was pretty depressing so we drove straight on to Ship Creek (15kms away) and had lunch in the car as it was cold, wet and very windy - a shame as it looked quite interesting

As soon as we left Ship Creek, it started raining heavily and didn't stop until we got to Franz Joseph. After checking in, the rain miraculously stopped and we decided to rush along to the Franz Joseph Glacier Road (track), at the end of which is the start of the Franz Josef Glacier Walk. It was a pleasant 3km walk ending at Sentinel Rock Walk where there was a distant view of the ever-receding glacier. Back at the our tiny cabin at the Top 10 Tourist Park, it started to rain again and it was torrential from that moment on until we reached the outskirts of Nelson

The drive from Franz Joseph to Nelson is very long and very boring with hundreds of hairpin-bends to cope with. So my advice is get to Nelson via Christchurch or, preferably, fly. The glaciers are really not worth seeing these days.