12 January 2012: Onto Queenstown

The ride from Franz Josef to Queenstown is nearly 6 hours long and the majority of the driving is through winding roads in the mountains of the west coast (also known as the ‘Southern Alps’).  Leaving the mountains, we drove through a relatively dry region that was scattered by low-growing shrubs, the occasional stand of introduced pine trees, and canyons.  Dr. Moran and I had agreed on listening to U2’s ‘The Joshua Tree’ as we left the mountains, not realizing that the history behind the album and the song’s inspirations would be very similar to the lands we would be driving through enroute to Queenstown.  Well played!