Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, Hokitika, Arthur's Pass, NZ

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We left Queenstown and started up the west coast, the wild wild west of NZ where mountains, rivers, and trees surrounded us in all directions. The road wound through impressive nature reserves pretty much our entire way up the west side, but all Val and Steve could see were their lives flashing before their eyes with my racecar maneuvers around the crazy cliffside curves. Oh, our '98 Nissan Sunny handled like a dream! It was one of the most gorgeous drives I'd ever done. This is what NZ is all about! We arrived at Fox Glacier a couple hours before sundown and decided to check out Lake Matheson hoping to see the mountains and sunset colors reflect off the mirror-like water. But the clouds rolled in as we made our way to the lake, so the mountains disappeared and all we got were a few trees off the lake. Typical, "should have been here yesterday..." But we woke up to a beautiful sunny day the next morning and went to go see Fox Glacier before heading up to Franz Josef Glacier for our glacier hike. Fox Glacier was where two tourists had died a few days ago when they crossed the barrier and got caught in falling ice, so we kept our distance. Definitely a better idea to just let the guide lead us up Franz Josef Glacier. They gave us boots and crampons (metal spikes that attach to the soles for ice climbing.) It was bad-ass. We got up far enough on the glacier to see the bluish colored ice, which is the really dense ice created by pressure from layers of snow that had packed down and frozen over. Our guide wielded a pick ax that was almost as big as she was and cleared a path through the ice as we went along. She was hardcore but totally cool. After the crampons came off, we continued up the west coast to Hokitika, this little town with pretty much nothing going on except some NZ greenstone carving and glass blowing. Spent the next morning meandering about, drove out to the milky blue Hokitika Gorge, and cut inland to Arthur's Pass National Park. Audwin, my travel buddy from a few weeks ago, had recommended the Avalanche Peak hike but we decided to do a less intense one called Bealey Spur. It was fairly tame but still offered great views of the surrounding mountains. I couldn't have imagined a better last impression of New Zealand. These six weeks flew by in a flash. I had thought about extending my trip but I think I have had my fill of living out of a smelly backpack, and I do need to leave some stones unturned for the next time I come back. Hopefully real soon!

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