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Published: March 18th 2012
Hello folks!
Our adventure continues. This past week has been marked by two wonderful experiences. We took the TranzAlpine train from Greymouth on the west coast to Christchurch on the east coast over the Southern Alps through Arthur's pass, following along the various glacial rivers situated in broad valleys with large herds of sheep and cattle grazing - staying over night in Christchurch and then returning the next day. This provided us with the opportunity to see a part of NZ that we would otherwise not have seen. At this time of year, the water level in the rivers is quite low, revealing expanses of gravel on either side that indicated just how wide the rivers would be during the spring runoff. Although only in Christchurch for one night, we stayed in the Y on the edge of the red zone (the extensive and frequently modified area of downtown Christchurch still not open to the public following the earthquakes and multitude of aftershocks) we did manage to walk through the large downtown Hagley Park - which is filled with magnificant trees, shrubbery, flowering plants, grasses and sedges. We will return to Christchurch in a couple of weeks as we make
our way up the east coast of the South Island (SI).
While there are two well-known large glaciers on the west coast, we chose to spend time on Fox glacier since it was less travelled than Franz Josef. The Heli-Hike option was strongly recommended by many travellers that we met - and we now agree whole heartedly!! We took a small helicopter up onto the glacier and then accompanied by two guides, our group of 10 experienced 2.5 hours of walking on the glacier and crawling into caves carved into the ice by melt water. This glacier is 17 km long and 0.5 km wide and in places is about 140 m deep; and while it does grow and shrink, overall it is getting smaller over the decades. When you are actually on the glacier, it is surprisingly uneven terrain - spikes, gullies, crevices, and caves. For safety reasons we had to follow our guides in single file wearing crampons on the leather boots provided by the company. The photos will give you some insight into our experience.
In glancing at the local newspapers, we are struck by 'same shit - different country' - from downloading to parking
fees, and the national and local govrnments managing their debts through cutting services, downsizing the public service and privatizing.
We continue to meet amazing people - the other day we had the good fortune to chat with a young Irish woman who has been cycling on her own for 16 months - so far she has been in 16 countries (Tibet and other countries in southeast Asia) and after NZ will head to South America and then Africa before heading home to Ireland.
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nancy wood
non-member comment
WOW!
Hi D&P...this all looks and sounds so amazing....thanks so much for sharing...also enjoyed the pictures of the critters you have seen....better luck next time with the chicken! Love always Nancy