Blogs from Fox Glacier, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 15

Birds eye viewAnna Caswellurl='/Videos/3090.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3090.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Falling I spent Friday walking around like I had just fallen in love. There was a slightly idiotic grin on my face, and I smiled wildly at anyone that vaguely looked in my direction. I was walking on air, on a "high", and endorphins were rushing thorugh the system. Why? Because I'd thrown myself out of a plane that morning, and flown like a bird. Something I've always considered doing, and now I've done it will definately be doing again. Basically throwing myself from a perfectly adequate small plane at a height of 12,000 meters over a glacier, with a view of mountains, lakes, forests and sea. The experience was incredible. The plane was literally only just big enough to hold me, th... read more

After Milford we stopped breifly in Queenstown, which didn't really appeal to us that much, so we moved swiftly on to the small town of Wanaka. Sitting next to Lake Wanaka, this town is a sleepy little place with lots of charecter and in one of the most picture perfect locations you could hope for! When we arrived mid-afternoon, the beach was humming with locals pushing their boats into the river and tourists wading into the waters. We camped just out of the town centre at a little spot by the river in preparation for our trip up to Haast and onwards to the Fox Glacier. After spending the following morning admiring Wanaka (and talking about how we could definitely live there), we booked our glacier trip and headed off up to the Haast Pass ... read more

We got to visit another textbook geographical feature! Only it's way better when you actually get up close to the glaciers. We went on a variety of walks to get close to the glaciers, to be rewarded with great views of ice pinnacles and crevasses, in stripes of blue and dirt. The temperature was surprisingly warm, but with a cool wind blowing off the glacier close to the terminus. We got far closer to Fox and so prefer that one!! Also amazing reflections in Lake Matheson of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman in the evening light- well worth the slight detour. Still being eaten alive by sandflies! ... read more

From Queenstown we travelled to Fox Glacier village with a short lunch stop in Wanaka. We had booked ourselves onto a full day's glacier hike on the famous Fox Glacier and were hoping for good weather (rain + ice = ground like glass!) Luckily the day arrived with perfect weather and we breathed a huge sigh of relief! We had signed up for a guided walk so were taken to the glacier by bus with our guide Jeremy. The glacier is not actually very impressive when you first see it. It looks fairly small (the car park was rather far away!) and it looks very dirty! As the glacier has grown and receded over the thousands of years it has been there it has picked up a lot of gravel and debris from the ground ... read more

I had actually woken up an hour early for my bus as i had completely forgotten the fact that the clocks had gone back. At least I wasn't an hour late. The drive to Fox Glacier was once again a very scenic one. Leaving Queenstow, our driver pointed out all of the flash new homes and developments which are springing up in the area. We passed through Wanaka and on over the Haast Pass. As always there were plenty of photo and refreshment stops. The bus finally pulled into Fox Glacier where I set off for the hostel. I met Edd in reception and we chilled in the sun, catching up with what we had both been up to. The next morning the sun was out so we popped into the Department Of Conservation office ... read more