Franz + Fox

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Being used to early starts by now, we got up before sunrise to do a walk around the base of Franz Joseph glacier, as we were going to hike up the Fox glacier later that day. On the way we saw a lake which had the clearest reflection of Franz Joseph - see the picture.

Unfortunatley, due to high demand, we were unable to do the full day hike up Fox glacier, as we had hoped. Instead we did the half day, which was amazing, just a little short. We were kitted out with crampons and set off on an hours walk to the front of the glacier. From here we had a steap fifteen minute climb beside the face, where we put on our crampons and stepped onto the ice. The colour of the ice was amazing - photos don't do it justice. It was perfect electric blue. This blue is caused by the light hitting the ice. The blue is the last and slowest colour of the spectrum to leave, making it appear to be always blue. Along our route we passed a couple of small caves and lots of moraine (glacial debris). The Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers are 2 of only 3 in the world that are advancing (the other one is in S. America, but we didn't see it!). In parts the Fox was advancing as much as 2m a day!

After the excitement of walking on the glacier, we set off for Queenstown. The drive took 4 hours and the views were just stunning, particularly around Haast Pass.

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Photos

Buried cave at Fox glacier
This looks like gavel but is actually ice thinly covered with gravel. The ice is slowly melting and shows where the glacier used to be years ago

Jagged shelf of Fox
Check out the brilliant blue!

Comments

[Susan]

Bungy!
Great photos. Can't believe you did the bungy, what else will be left for you to try? Best wishes.