We started our second day in New Zealand in the small town of Omarama. We packed up and left our little cabin at the holiday park headed toward the local airfield and The Pink Glider Cafe to get some breakfast.

Omarama has some unique geographic features that make it a world-class destination for gliding (flying an unpowered aircraft). So in addition sitting down to a nice breakfast, we were hoping we would be able to see some gliders being towed aloft while were were at the café.

We somehow got up, ready, and packed too early, as the café wasn’t quite ready when we arrived, but they let us settle in at a table anyway. We did our best to keep Izzy occupied with coloring and playing with some of the outdoor toys that were available to guests.

When we eventually did get our food and coffee, everything was surprisingly good. More delicious, higher quality, and better presented than you would expect from a little airfield café in the States.

After breakfast, we got back into the car without having spotted any gliders on the ground or in the sky. Sad. But we had to get going, as we had a glacier to find!

As we drove towards the Tasman Glacier Viewpoint, the scenery was spectacular. The highway follows the shoreline of long and narrow Lake Pukaki, which is fed by glacial melt, giving its water extraordinary color. The road was interesting as well, with many one-way bridges to navigate.

After arriving near the viewpoint, we had a short but steep hike uphill to the viewing area which gave us an awesome vantage of the surrounding area. In the distance we could see shrinking Tasman Glacier, which was melting into Tasman Lake, which flowed downhill via the Tasman River to Lake Pukaki. It was cool to see how the water changed color as it flowed along. We could also see the snow-covered Southern Alps to our north, west, and south.

Luckily it wasn’t too cold and the hike had warmed us up, because it was quite windy up at the viewpoint.

After we got our photos and fill of the view, we started our hike back down.

New Zealand - Tasman Glacier Viewpoint Decent - Timelapse

Back on the road, we headed east toward the coast. On the way, we stopped at Blue Lake Eatery on the shore of Lake Tekapo for lunch. We’re not pizza snobs, but we weren’t sure what to expect from a Kiwi pie. However, we were impressed once again by New Zealand’s culinary offerings.

As we approached our destination for the night, Google Maps gave us a “shortcut” into Timaru. We ended up on some narrow farm lanes, which serpentined back and forth, following the curves of the steep hills in the area. It was an amazing departure from the long, straight, flat country roads back in Nebraska. I was a little scared we would run out of pavement, find ourselves face-to-face with a big piece of farm equipment, or discover that Google had sent us the wrong direction, but we made it to town without a hiccup. Despite the mild anxiety, I had quite a bit of fun with the back roads exploration, even though our automatic Toyota Corolla didn’t have the most exciting driving dynamics.

Once in town, we checked into another holiday park cabin, and then headed back out to do a bit more exploring. Timaru ended up being our least favorite city on the trip. It felt quite industrial, and not terribly inviting. There’s apparently a colony of Little Blue Penguins that live in the bay, but despite our best efforts to find them, they eluded us.

For whatever reason that evening, the restaurants in town didn’t look very appealing, so we popped into the local PAK’nSAVE grocery store to find something for dinner as well as breakfast the next morning. At first, we were a bit disappointed at not finding a restaurant, but then we remembered how much fun it is to visit international grocery stores. If you are ever visiting a new country, make it a point to stop by a grocery store, even if to just wander around.

Now the US and New Zealand are quite similar, so the grocery store experience there was very familiar. But there are some small differences that are exciting to spot.

We passed on the eggs and meat ends, but did find some dinner to bring back to our cabin, a local bottle of wine to wash it down, and some breakfast and snacks for the next day.

Next up: Timaru to Christchurch