Blogs from Fox Glacier, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 17

היום הגענו לללא ספק לאחד המקומות היפים והמיוחדים בניו זילנד - קרחון פוקס (פוקס גלזייר). מדובר בקרחון באורך כמה קילומטרים טובים שיושב לו ככה בניחותא על איזה הר באצע שומקום. בדרך לקרחון עוד עברנו באיזו עיירונת בשם רוס, שיש בה מכרות זהב פעילים. רצינו לגנוב להם קצת, אבל לא הצלחנו... ובנוגע לקרחון עצמו: יצאנו לקרחון עם מדריך נחמד שדאג לצייד אותנו בנעליים "מיוחדות", בדוקרנים להליכה על השלג ובבגדים חסיני גשם, כי גשם לא הפסיק לרדת מהרגע שהגענו לעיירה.. בכל אופן, הסיור עצמו היה ללא ספק אחד השווים. פשוט קשה לתאר את ההרגשה של ללכת על הר שהוא בעצם גוש אחד עצום של קרח. רק חבל שבמשך 4 שעות של סיור נכנסו לנעליים ה"מיוחדות" שלנו מ--ל--א מים ושהבגדים שנתנו לנו בכלל לא היו חסיני גשם כי חזרנו מהסיור ר-ט-ו-ב-י-ם!!, אבל מאושרים!! (: .. זהו.. מחר ממשיכים לוואנקה, ... read more

Lots of driving these days. I could write and write and write but would be unable to satisfactorily describe what we did and saw in any reasonable amount of time. To be honest I just want to post a few photos. I’ve seen glaciers and glacier valleys, but never a glacier quite like Fox. The glacier brings together ice/snow and heat/rain - a glacier in a rainforest. We tramped in the rain for nearly three hours. Up narrow cliff face trails and down loose gravel/stone paths and finally onto the ice. The ice was hundreds of feet thick and an ever-changing landscape that requires constant trail maintenance. Blue, azure ice…. By the time we made it back to the bus we were soaked through and through. The café at the trail guide lodge became a temporary ... read more

Queenstown to Fox Glacier December 24, 2006 After a night’s stop in Queenstown to do laundry and reclaim our luggage, we hit the road and headed west. We had to climb up out of the valley, and pushed our little rental car to it’s limit! We made it all the way out to the Tasman Sea in a couple of hours. We stopped briefly in Arrowtown, an old gold-mining town and then again in Wanaka. We followed river and lake valleys all the way out and the views were beautiful once again. That evening we checked into a very nice B&B in Fox Glacier and got a good night’s sleep to prepare for our next adventure… heli-hiking Fox Glacier! We awoke to a cold front forming misty clouds in the valley and over the glacier. After ... read more

Our last morning in Queenstown started at 6am. It was another manic one, as, if I remember rightly, we had to leave at 7:30am. This meant the three of us all had to have our showers, have breakfast, and make sure we had nothing left in our rooms. It’s surprising how long it takes to pack a bag sometimes. Anyway, we all made it out on time. Nick had got us a new coach this morning, and he was really pleased with himself. The old coach wasn’t that bad, and later on, we would have wished that he’d kept the other coach. Today, our destination was Fox Glacier, which is on the West Coast of the South Island. We set off from the hotel. However, no sooner had we started, Nick kept stalling the coach. He ... read more