Advertisement
Published: November 13th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Arrived in Franz Josef and booked Sue's skydive and our Helihike onto the glacier for the following day. The skydive was to be over Fox Glacier and the helihike was to be a helicopter up to the third and more pristine part of Franz Josef Glacier. Up next day early at 05.00 for Sue's sky dive only to see very low and thick cloud cover and to be told it was postponed. Disappointing but even worse to come when the helihike was cancelled for the same reason and were were left with no way of getting on the ice as the full day glacier hikes were fully booked - major disappointment. 😞
Lots of effort later and we had managed to get on a guided half day glacier hike (rumours were that this trip did not give you quality time on the ice) starting at 15.00 and just by chance walking aimlessly round town we found a scenic plane that was just about to take off as there was no cloud cover up on the mountains and their airstrip was also clear. So off we went on a 50 minute scenic flight that went over and round Franz Josef Glacier,
Fox Glacier and Mt Cook as well as loads of other glaciers, mountains and alpine lakes. The snow and ice views were absolutely awesome and the plane went in very close so we could see great detail. This was so unbelievable it is very hard to describe - one of the highlights to our trip. Back on the ground it was time for our glacier hike so off we went to get kitted out, without too much expectation - we managed to use most of our own kit, but we had to get crampons !!
We get the bus as near to the glacier as we can and then its about one hours walk to the bottom of the glacier over pretty rough terrain, stones, streams, bolders and screed. Once at the bottom its on with the crampons - very strange. A safety briefing from the guide and off go the 13 in his group. First up the ice steps onto the glacier properly, learning how to walk and having a firm grip on the ropes that are laid at this stage - steep drops on each side of the steps. This was the easy part - it soon
got much harder and more challenging. After climbing for about 30 mins the guide takes use off the normal path with a hint of a treat to come. The ice steps get much narrower and near vertical now, with no ropes a lot of the time - its starting to get scary. Then its round a corner and an ice hole opens up in front of us - very difficult to get into and requires a leap of faith at the entrance as we are against a vertical wall at this point. We scramble into this small dark blue hole and a small ice cave opens up in front of us, just big enough to walk into - awesome !! In we go and the next thing is the guide has disappeared up an ice chimney - which we also had to climb up before popping back out into the sunshine and then down a near vertical wall with very thin steps and no ropes, which required a special descent technique. Not sure who was more scared - Bill or Sue, but we both made it - although the guide did move out of the way in case we fell
!!
Further up the glacier we went, traversing a very thin blue crevice - and reached the top of the first stage. The views and sense of achievement were both great. We then set off back down and made our way back to the bus having been walking for 4 1/2 hours and been on the ice for 2 1/2 hours - both very tired and with aching legs and a great sense of achievement - an absolutely brilliant day 😊 😊
Next day at last I am picked up at 9am for my sky dive, feeling absolutely terrified but determined to go ahead. We arrive at small airfield and are given instructions and taken to be kitted out. I am given a blue boiler suit and then had a harness put on by my instructor Rod. Then it is out to the plane for more instructions before take off. Rod sits on plane door opening and I sit in front of him and he attaches my harness to his and I am told to let myself hang down from plane put head back cross arms and tuck feet under step, after a couple of practices and photos
we are finally off. At this point I realise there is no turning back. Rod has a dvd recorder attached to his wrist and is taking various shots of me looking terrified and also of scenery whilst we are ascending to 12000ft!! There were two of us skydiving on plane and I was to be first out. Rod says here we go Sue and door opens, my heart was pumping very fast, he swung round with me infront and I drop down, a photo is taken and before I know it we are rolling out of plane, with freefall for 45 seconds I saw plane fly off, I was petrified but then parachute opens and everything goes silent and I realised why I have done this mad thing. The views were amazing over Fox Glacier and surrounding mountains. It was so quiet Rod could talk to me and we had a practice for landing position, I was totally relaxed by now and didnt want experience to end. We landed in a field very gently on our bottoms. 😊
I was feeling extremely pleased with myself and couldnt stop smiling. Rod then unattached his harness from mine, congratulated me and
we were all driven back to the airfield to collect our DVD and photos, and I had to buy the T shirt.
After picking up Sue at Fox Glacier the bus travelled down the West Coast taking in great views. One of the highlights was the Blue Pools, where Sue took a dip (only toes) and then onto Makarora where we promptly jumped onto a jet boat which Bill had sneakily signed up for when Sue was off sky diving. The jet boat was very fast travelling down two local rivers over shallows and very near to edges, trees in the water and even a cow that was crossing the river. And just to top it off, some 360 degree turns.
What a brilliant couple of days 😊
Advertisement
Tot: 0.107s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0341s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Gaz
non-member comment
Wow
It all looks so amazing on the glacier very jealous and well done Sue your very brave glad you enjoyed it!!