Ice Ice Baby

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Part 3 16/02/07 - 17/02/07 Two Long Walks. Wanaka and Franz Joseph Glacier!

We took the shortcut to Wanaka over the Coronet range and dropped down to the town nestled on the banks of Lake Wanaka. Yet another beautiful town where we had no time to spend, stopping only for a chai latte in a café and on to the intriguingly advertised ‘Puzzling World’. The puzzles include a complicated maze where you end up walking on average 3 - 5 kilometers in only 1.5 kilometers of passages. Illusionary rooms include a room where all the faces seem to look at you as you move around and a tilt room where a snooker ball appears to roll up hill and water seems to defy grafity and run uphill. The effect room, used in film making appears to have a level ceiling when viewed from outside but people in each corner appear surprisingly small or tall. (I guess you have to be there to understand!)

We headed to Wanaka airport for Jeanette and Jerry to skydive from 15,000 ft and experience the rush of a full 60 seconds of freefall but after suiting up into their multi-coloured suits and signing their live away the jumps had to be abandoned due to dangerous winds. All that built up anticipation for nothing! Their skydiving will go ahead at another location… watch this space!!!

After stopping for dinner at a beautiful beach location, we waved the white flag to the sandflies and retreated hurriedly into the relative safety of the campervan, finally arriving at Franz Joseph round the windy roads after dark, spotting furry little possums at the roadside, and possibly one under the wheels. ?

There were hiking options for the Franz Joseph glacier. These were; half day, three quarter day and full day. We chose full day - and a full day it was. After kitting out with hats, gloves, coats and most importantly boot ‘Talonz’, we took a short shuttle bus to the valley. It was a 2 km walk to the start of the glacier where we stopped and donned our talonz for walking on the ice; then the fun began. We crossed all the warning signs for random tourists to keep away from the unstable structure. Loud crashes could be heard throughout the day as huge chunks of ice and rock crashed down. (We read in the local paper the next day that a tourist was badly injured after venturing into an ice cave as tones of ice crashed down, shattering his kneecap)

Our guide, Blair, carried an ice pick for cutting out ice steps as we climbed up and down across the glacier, picking out a route of ice steps and carefully avoiding the deadly crevasses. The initial climb up the face of the glacier was very steep and sometimes ropes were secured into the ice to help us pull ourselves up the steep stairs.

We squeezed through narrow blue ice gaps, hunched through dripping blue ice tunnels and did the ‘Franz shuffle’ the technique for walking up extremely steep steps sideways, putting one boat over the other. As the day wore on, we all became more and more tired and the ice and terminal moraine seemed more and more treacherous. We were offered the chance to swim in an ice-cold lake but luckily just before we arrived the lake emptied, as the ice water gushed away into the nothingness below and so we were spared the opportunity for any insane bravado.

We had only made our way about 2.5 km onto the glacier but having to concentrate with every step we were both mentally and physically exhausted. Fortunately our campsite had a spa so we could soak our tired muscles in the 40 degree water before heading back into town for a curry!

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Photos

Holding up the clock
At the bizzare puzzling world, Lake Wanaka

Look out Trotsky!
Blair with Ice Pick

just chillin'
In the ice tunnels

In the blue
With Jen

A tight squeeze
through the crevasses

Comments

[Fish]

Been There - Done That!
Well, 'done that' - true; but 'been there' - false. However, did you know that a photo exists of your dad, aged 15, standing similarly in a narrow tunnel of the Rhone glacier in Switzerland? That was back in 1962, but I will never forget that typical blue/green hue of the ice; and it looks exactly like it does surrounding you guys in the pictures. Keep blogging! >