On the road into Queenstown were a number of "bench under a tree" signs notifying drivers of a nice spot to stop. These were everywhere in New Zealand, but they were certainly appropriate in Queenstown, one of the most beautiful towns we have ever seen.
It reminded me a little of Lake Tahoe (in northern California, for you uninitiated), but maybe 50 years ago, or whenever it was last a sleepy little ski town.
We were "forced" to pull over and avoid crashing our car while trying to stop staring at the incredible view. And no, that is not some fake backdrop behind Tiff.
In fact, Tiffany was so enamored she wanted to dive right into the incredible blue of the water.
We pulled into town, checked into our hotel, and immediately left to take a hike up to a viewpoint. This is what we arrived at, about 45 minutes walk from the center of town. Again, checking the camera for our photos, we were struck by the almost surreal beauty of the town's mountain and lake backdrop.
As it is fall down here in the southern hemisphere, we enjoyed a spectacular spectrum of trees changing their color guard. At first we laughed at how many benches the town had positioned all over the place, but we shortly realized they were quite necessary, as we frequently had to sit down and stop to enjoy the sublime nature all around us.
From Queenstown we drove about 5 hours north into glacier land. Thick slabs of ice sat on top of mountain ranges. The wet snow falls so heavily (almost 100 feet per year!) that it quickly compacts down into ice, which forms the glaciers.
We took a few walks around town and along different trails to appreciate the many features of the glaciers and their surroundings.
Even filling up for gas afforded this gorgeous, sunset view.
Of course, heavy snowfall melts at the bottom and results in some gushing waterfalls. If you look closely, you can pick me out at the bottom of these three.
Once we had properly prepared ourselves, we took a helicopter ride around the glaciers and landed on the Franz Joseph glacier to try and get a sense of its enormity and beauty up close. 
Ok, this has nothing to do with glaciers, but we spotted this rental van, and what can I say? It spoke to my heart. Or rather, my...
We calculated that over our 20 days in Kiwi country, we'd driven about 1,800 miles, and shouted with outstretched, pointing arm to each other, "Ohmygod, look at that!" approximately 3,600 times. It's quite easy to pick out the tourists in New Zealand, they're the ones walking around with their heads on a swivel, in a futile attempt to take in all of the natural beauty that exists on these two small islands, constantly shouting and pointing to look here and there.
Although we logged around 30 hours of driving all told, it honestly flew by. Every day we were treated to new landscapes. Mountains, animals, fields, and irrationally bright hues of green grass and blue skies all conspired to such arresting beauty that we stopped discerning between journey and destination. Long periods without conversation were required while our overloaded brains desperately logged image after image, and our mouths' only contribution was "Ooohh... ahhhh..."
Surprisingly, we were held up by a cattle crossing. Apparently, cows seem to follow us in whichever country we're in!
Our pictures do not nearly bring justice to the countryside, but here are a few of the photos just taken on the last leg from Franz Joseph to Christschurch.
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