Blogs from Fox Glacier, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 6

We are now in the South Island and having a ball. We loved it when we first hit the shores and that the sun is shining it's a great change for the last few days. We change into our shorts to take advantage of the drive to Kiakoura. We stopped at a fantastic winery and had to buy a bottle of Tempranillo, stopped at a café on the beach and had lunch and watched a colony of Fur seals. The next day at Kiakoura, I went on a whale watching cruise while Menx has some Personal time to herself to read her book and have coffee and cake. The whale watching has a 98% success rate and if you don't see a whale they give you 80% of the ticket price back. Lets just say, I ... read more

Hi, decided to do a special blog for the Glaciers as so many pictures and an amazing experience! Arrived here at Fox on a Wednesday afternoon with the sun shining after a wet drive from Greymouth! Found a little campsite right in the heart of the township, close to everything, not that there is a lot to be close to! Several cafes/bars , helicopter bookings, petrol station, general store and an internet cafe! But very nice and quiet with the picturesque mountains behind. IOn the way here in the morning I had to pass through Franz Josef and so stopped at the Glacier car park, to do the hour and a half walk to the Glacier terminal face. Quite weird as you walk through some rainforest then walk up the river bed to the glacier face ... read more

Up at 6:45am and off towards Fox Glacier today! It started off crappy and cloudy out but got warm and sunny closer we got to Fox. Majority of us did the 4 hour hike through a rainforest up a million steps, to get to the glacier. Most people were exhausted but I showed true fitness as I was luvin every moment of it! I love hiking with a passion! Our guide warned us not to sweat too much cuz once we got out of the rainforest and onto the glacier our sweat will freeze so it was hard to maintain your body temperature. Our guide was a cute 20 year old who all the girls (and guys) loved so much! I think everyone was trying to impress him with our fitness so it was funny! When ... read more

Having done a whole glacier day yesterday, instead of the half day I'd planned I've stayed in fox for another day giving me chance to see lake matheson and do some laundry, the hostel scuppered all my plans by doing my laundry for me, it arrived back on my bunk this evening washed and dried, even the dry sac it had been packed in which makes me alittle worried, but it meant I had nothing to do this afternoon which turned well in the end.  This morning I took my life into my own hands and borrowed a bike from the hostel to take me the 2km to lake matheson, the mirror lake. To say the bike was badly maintained was an understatement. I don't look after my bike but this one had, no breaks, and ... read more

Quittant Fiordland, ma route s'oriente au nord, une direction que je ne lâcherai plus pour un moment. Mes prochaines destinations ont pour noms Queenstown, Wanaka et Fox Glacier et vont m'emmener à nouveau au cœur des Southern Alps. La montagne me plaît toujours autant, à croire que les paysages si terriblement magnifiques de Milford Sound ne sont en définitive pas parvenu à me blaser. Il faut tout de même ajouter que cette étape alpestre a aussi été le théâtre d'une chasse frénétique aux lieux de tournage du Seigneur des Anneaux ; de quoi combler mes aspirations et faire passer en un éclair une nouvelle semaine sous le soleil de Nouvelle-Zélande. Voyons cela de plus près. L'appel de la montagne Un lac, des montagnes, des rivières, des canyons, des forêts et au milieu de tout ça : ... read more