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Published: September 15th 2009
Fox Glacier
Note the ant-like people crawling along its surfaceSaturday, September 12th
It rained heavily through the night, but just before 7am, when we peaked out our window, we saw patched of blue between the rain clouds. With nothing to do all day but relax, we crawled back into bed and snoozed some more.
Once breakfast and some admin were done it was almost lunch time. It started raining heavily once more, but just as quickly the sun was out again, so after lunch we read and baked in the sun like a couple of lizards. Later we watched a movie and after dinner we watched a few doccies. All in all, a very relaxing day.
Today's highlights:
1. Relaxing all day long.
Impressions of NZ:
The weather on this part of the island changes a lot, but mostly it seems to rain. Sunday, September 13th
We woke to find the sky a clear light blue. Not a rain cloud in sight! Our prayers had been answered. For the first time since our arrival we could see the summits of Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook peaking out at us.
Just before we left for the guiding HQ Ferdi's sunglasses fell apart. This on a day
when he needed them most. Damn! Asia was hard on our gear. We got super-glue but that didn't do the trick so we had to get him a new pair. With little time to shop around and a good bit of uhm-ing and ahh-ing he finally chose a good (rather than cheap) pair (Talita was delighted cause she said his old pair made him look old).
At guiding HQ we got big heavy leather boots (like short SA army boots) and crampons. We also applied sunscreen to all exposed skin including the inside of our noses. Then it was onto the bus for the 10min ride to the car park near the foot of the glacier. Our guide Kurt said that there's 25m of glacial ice underneath the car park and at the start of our walk he showed us the underground ice. The first hour of the trip was down the riverbed and up through some rain forest, bypassing the dangerous crumbling ice walls at the foot of the glacier.
Fox Glacier is truly massive, 13.5km long and up to 800m wide. It advances about 2m per day, getting longer and shorter depending on the yearly snowfall
patterns. When we reached the ice we were shown how to put on our crampons, then started our glacier experience in earnest. Kurt showed us how much grip the crampons have and demonstrated proper crampon technique. We all tucked our trouser legs into our sock to keep them from getting ripped by the crampons. This made us look goofy, but who cared?
Kurt used an ice-ax to chisel away steps in the steep parts of our trail. The week before he'd accidentally put the ice-ax through his new pair of boots and into his foot. He wasn't too worried about his foot though, just upset about his expensive boot. Anyway, walking with crampons wasn't as strange as we thought. The biggest danger is breaking an ankle. The crampons put a lot of extra torque on your ankles so you have to make sure you don't put your foot sideways on the downhill sections. It was great stomping around the glacier and when we saw how little of the glacier the half day visitors get to see we were really happy that we spent the extra cash for the full day trip.
We made our way over to the
Boots and crampons
Ancient but effective left side of the glacier where we had lunch on some warm rocks. Kurt took the ladies to make some “yellow ice” and then we set off once more. First we went through an ice tunnel and then we started to make our way up the glacier. Our feet were suffering in those hard leather boots. Oh how we missed our own comfy hiking boots back in SA!
We had a blast walking all over the glacier. Ferdi took over 330 pictures, trying in vain to capture the magnitude of that gigantic block of ice. At one point Kurt said that if three of us can pull one of his anchors from the ice we'd get a refund. Try as we might we couldn't pull it free. He said that's because it's rated to carry 2.2 tons! Very strong stuff indeed.
Just after 3pm we left the ice and made our way down to the car park. On the trail down Talita's left knee started acting up. The use of the crampons had strained her knee ligaments a bit. By the time we got back to the bus our feet (and Talita's knee) were begging for mercy. Back
at HQ we exchanged those terrible clumpers for our own comfy shoes and then debated whether or not to drive on to Franz Josef Glacier, 30mins north. We decided to stay put and see if we're lucky to have another nice day cause we really wanted to visit Lake Matheson. It's only a few kilometers from town and is very famous because of the tons of pictures taken of the reflections of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman in its surface.
Today's highlights:
1. Tramping on Fox Glacier.
Impressions of NZ:
The glaciers are spectacular and these are the most accessible of the 3000 glaciers in NZ. Monday, September 14th
We woke early and were thankful to find that the weather looked great. We quickly had breakfast and set off for Lake Matheson. There's a groomed trail around the lake and we got some nice pictures. The ducks were frolicking in the water and so disturbed the smooth surface of the lake, meaning the reflection shots weren't that great. It was a beautiful view none-the-less and a nice outing. Talita's knee was giving her grief again and Ferdi called her Mrs. Cook. (On Ferdi's first hike with the
Minty clan his knee gave him tons of grief. This made him walk as if he had a wooden leg and so the nickname Captain Cook was born).
An hour and a half later we were back in the van heading to Franz Josef Glacier. Once there we took the hour long hike from the car park to the foot of the glacier. Talita's knee was still unhappy, but she's not one to give in easily/ever. Near the foot of the glacier we could hear the ice groaning and cracking as it made its slow way down the valley. We also saw a few rock falls and were glad not to be too near this monster. Not quite as big as Fox Glacier, Franz Josef is still massive. We got a bunch of pictures, then made the hour long return trek.
Back in our van we set our sights on Westport, 220km north. We didn't stop for petrol in Franz Josef town cause it was the most expensive petrol we'd ever come across. Luckily we weren't desperate so we continued on.
Lunch was at Lake Ianthe and later we passed through Hokitika. We were very relieved, cause
from here onward the van is insured again. For much of the way the road followed the ocean and we got some great views. Just outside Punakaiki we visited the Pancake Rocks. These were pretty but not as big a deal as we imagined them to be. We didn't have much time anyway, so we just grabbed a bunch of shot and moved on.
We were very tired by the time we reached Westport. We filled up the van, found a camping spot and relaxed for a bit, eating cheese and crackers. We got our first view of the Weka, a biggish flightless bird. It looks a little like it could be family of the Kiwi. These two came scavenging around the van and was very interested in our crackers. Too tired to cook we got some fish, a veggie roll and chips for dinner. It was a long day and we were ready for bed.
Today's highlights:
1. Walking around the picturesque Lake Matheson.
2. Visiting Franz Josef Glacier.
3. Seeing the Pancake Rocks.
4. Arriving in Westport.
Impressions of NZ:
It sucks that fuel prices aren't regulated here. People end up taking advantage of you Ice tunnel
no, Kurt is not a hobbit. He is actually a head taller than Ferdi with insane prices, and you also end up having to hunt around for "the best buy".
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lize Immelman
non-member comment
ons het nog nie die glacier's gedoen nie - ek het gewonder of ons dit moet dringend doen. na ek julle photos gesien het - is dit 'n moet - stunning. dit lyk soo amazing. can't wait!