Fox Glacier

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Saturday, December 15th, 2007 - 12:59 a.m.

We spent all day today driving. Well, Alex drove and I took pictures. I haven't been able to sleep the last two nights...both nights I slept for about three hours and then it was a lost cause trying. The first night I spent hours and hours thinking, my mind spinning about my life and my future...then I got up and painted my nails.

Here I am - night number three...it's one a.m. and I'm still bug eyed awake.

I did sleep for about a hour in the car. During part of that hour Alex pulled into a little town so we could eat and I woke up while he was trying to find a place to park. I'm the navigator, but since I didn't see how he got us where we were I left it to him to figure out how to get back to the main road. I want to say "highway", but they don't call it that and it's nothing like a highway other then it looks like one on the map and is marked by numbers like ours. So we find a sign going back to "highway" 6, only they don't say North or South...they only say what city it's heading toward and it's not always a bigger city, sometimes it's the next closest city and sometimes it's the city at the far end of the island....it doesn't make much sense to me. So without making this more confusing, basically we take a guess and hope we're heading in the right direction...we drive for a while before we come across a sign that is just a big black exclamation mark (they use that to grab your attention for a point of interest) with a smaller sign below reading, "No Exit". We're on an adventure though so we kept going just to see what the end looked like. Only the end was about an hour and a half away and to get there the paved road turned to rocks, we drove through creeks (like, warning signs, you might not be able to get back across if the water rises, through creeks) spooked sheep walking on the side and in the road, and broke up a heard of cows just hanging out staring at us in the road all the way into the heart of Mt. Aspiring National Park. Similar to snowflakes, it seemed that around every corner the mountain peaks were different, some we'll never know how tall they were because of the low hanging clouds, some were covered in green, some ash, some snow, some jagged, some rounded, some ending abruptly...it was incredible. I've heard people say, "the water was like glass", but until now, I had never actually witnessed such beautiful lakes that the mountains reflection and clouds were perfect in the water without even a ripple to distort it. Property was divided by fences, but I'm not sure why because there would be an open driveway for the animals to go in and out - the sheep and cows were everywhere...I don't the animals realize they're free and are actually on the other side of the fence because quite a few still stuck their heads through to eat the grass on the other side. These were pretty darn happy sheep and cows too...I've never seen cows run and chase each other...or run period...but I guess you'd be a happy cow too if you lived with no boundaries and your neighbor was a huge waterfall and mountains.

The drive to the end of the road was fun, beautiful, and unlike anything I've ever seen...but the actual end was just a dirt parking lot with paths to hike and we still had a long haul ahead of us to our next hotel let alone the ride back to the city to figure out how to get to said destination. Once we got back to the city we made circles, u-turns, and finally stopped in the information center to use the restroom and figure out how the heck to get back to "highway" 6 since we didn't have a map for the city with road names, just New Zealand.

Prior to stopping for a lite lunch three hours earlier, I ate a lot of dried bananas and pears in place of breakfast because we didn't grab anything before we hit the road. About an hour into our drive after the information center I started to feel really sick between cramps, lack of sleep, lack of food, and whatever was stirring in my stomach. The whole rest of the ride was a blast trying to keep my thoughts off of those undigested apples coming out of either end and eventually there was no holding them back...I was sick to my stomach the rest of the evening and am only now starting to feel decent again. After getting some real food, midal, and tums...I'm ready to rock. I hope that continues because we're hoping to check out Fox Glacier tomorrow.


Sunday, December 16, 2007 - 11:53 a.m.

This is the first entry that I wrote December on the first try instead of November. Alex and I are sitting at the train station in Greymouth waiting to start the journey back east to Christchurch for the night. Yesterday I was feeling great still so we signed up for a four hour hike to Fox Glacier. We went with a group of about 15 people after being geared up with a backpack with a rain/wind proof jacket, heavy duty boots, wool socks, and crampies (metal spikes that you strap onto the bottom of your boots). The shuttle bus that took us to the beginning of the trail has been restored from when they first started the Glacier hikes in the 40's or 50's (we can't remember). Our guide hates the buses because there's no power steering and they didn't just take the exterior of the bus and put it on a modern engine or anything that would make sense...instead they paid about $20,000 more then the cost of buying a new bus to restore the original ones, but the owner likes the look and feel so that's what they have to use. Of course, being the passenger, we thought the look and feel was cool too.

The parking lot is actually "dead ice" that they have to build back up with dirt every year. The dead ice was once part of the glacier, but once it was detached it changed categories. There's four parts to a glacier:

1. Has to be at least 12 years old
2. Has to meet the minimum size requirement (about a football field)
3. Has to be made of snow turned ice
4. Has to be moving - they grow, they break, they retreat, they grow back - you could leave for a month and come back to find it isn't the same as you last remembered it.

This hike was blew my mind. I don't understand how we can hike up through the rain forest, dripping in sweat, muggy/hot air, no breeze and then within 10 minutes we're standing on a glacier enjoying the cold air before putting on more layers. It was like we walked into another world - a very cold, slippery, nothing but ice world with the mountains and the forrest to either side in the near distance.

We were instructed to stomp like a three year old having a tantrum, the spikes were at the center of our foot so walking on our heels or toes is trouble, but walking hard and flat footed would get us through. I've never thought about visiting a glacier...I've seen them in books and on tv, but it never crossed my mind that maybe one day I'd want to see and experience one, but we did, and it was absolutely awesome.

On the way down we passed Susan, a dinner friend from Kaikora. Here we are, about 20 hours from Kaikora, in the rain forest, and we just happen to pass her. Pretty random, eh?

Almost five hours after we started our hike we were back in the hotel, showering, snoozing, then off for a short 40 minute hike through the forest to see the lake before getting dinner.

I can't believe the trip is almost over. We stay one night in Christchurch, catch a plane to Fiji, and then.................................we come home. I started preparing myself by thinking about how nice it'll be to not have to pack and run in the mornings, about seeing familiar faces, eating a stuffed potato at Mat's Cafe (mmmMMmmmm), and sleeping in our own bed, but I'll be honest....I'm not ready to come home yet.

I love New Zealand. I couldn't live here because of how intense our allergies are, but I love New Zealand. Australia was one tourist trap after another right down to their aboriginal culture. Every other store was selling Aboriginal art and didgeridoos (musical instrument), the man we saw on the street playing a dijeradoo for money just sat there with face paint on, making an almost nothing noise on the didgeridoo now and again while music blared from his stereo. In New Zealand, however, they have a lot of pride in their Mauri culture. When we raft the guides would say a prayer in their language to the river, the trees, to the deceased buried in the caves along the river. The people around here don't use the past as a profit in the present like we saw in Australia.




Later that day - train ride from Greymouth to Christchurch

New Zealand is Mother Nature's Vegas. Instead of flashy lights, everything is earth tones, but it has the same mesmerizing effect. You take in and acknowledge ever color surrounding you. It's not simply green grass. It's a spectrum of greens and yellows with patches of brown, tan and grey dirt or rocks depending on where your eyes land. It's all things you've seen before in real life, on tv, or maybe in a book, but it grips your attention and seems as though you're looking at the most beautiful pine trees in the world, the crispest blues in a river, even the cows have full long eye lashes that need to be noticed and appreciated.

Life is at a slower pace here. Their holidays are longer. Dinner might as well be an event. Even a favorite game of cricket lasts for days with plenty of tea breaks and usually ends in a draw. I love that about other countries.

On a different note, while Alex and I have had more exercise then we get at home, we have been indulging in more then just new Zealand's endless beauty - like snickers and left over pizza for breakfast. We found out after being weighted in for the Canyon Swing that I've successfully gained 8 to 10 pounds and he's gained 12-15. Yeeeow! We're going back to a healthier eating style when we come home, but for now - it's been a pleasure.

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Photos

Me and Alex
at the Shotover River

Comments

[Wendy]

Looks like a lot of fun. I'm glad you guys had such a wonderful time. Welcome home!