Fox glacier

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we might have been forgiven for thinking that the weather gods were not looking over us when we woke at Fox Glacier the following morning. We woke at around 5.30am to hear the rain pouring down and unsurprisingly when we woke up Mount Cook was covered in cloud and our scenic flight was not happening. However this gave us the opportunity to go for a quick walk around Lake Matheson before our glacier hike that was starting at 9.30. Unfortunately the reflections on the water for which this lake is famous only served to dampen the mood and put Jules more firmly into the gloom of not seeing Mount Cook from the helicopter.

Nonetheless we headed for the glacier at 9.30 and had a fantastic day - the cloud gradually lifted as we walked through the lower sections of the glacier through small crevasses and climbed into an ice cave. I was really surprised at how much grit there was on the surface of the glacier which made it look dirtier than I expected but at times we glimsed really blue ice and wonderfully prestine ice formations.

As we began to descend our hopes (and the clouds) raised and we were optimistic that we may get a quick view of mount cook. Indeed my Irish luck was out in force and when we got back to Fox we were able to book another flight up the mountain. The guides warned us that it was unlikely we would get a view as the mountain had not been seen all day but we decided that it would be nice to see the glacier from above. As we got closer to the mountain the pilot told us that the cloud had lifted and that we were going to be the only people that day to see Mount Cook that day! The view was spectacular as the wind swept over the top of the mountain and nearby Mount Tasman. We had a brief stop high on the glacier on the way back down which allowed us to see the much cleaner ice near the top. All in all not a bad day..... Hopefully we will be as lucky in Wanaka which is where we are heading for next.....

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