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Published: September 16th 2008
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Day 522 (01.09.08)
So we've come to realise that travelling New Zealand in the wintertime has its definite pros and cons. On the plus side we have never had to book any accommodation or activities in advance giving us the flexibility that we love when we're travelling. We also don't have to share our experiences with hordes of other people. The downside though is that the weather can obviously affect your plans. We'd been lucky enough to miss some bad weather on the east coast which caused havoc when roads became impassable due to landslips etc. but on the west coast we'd now managed to catch up with a bad spot of rain which always seems to come with thick mist here seriously hampering views along the way.
One of our wedding presents was a hike on the Franz Josef glacier - thanks so much Hazel and Dick! We'd had our hearts set on upgrading this to a helihike where a chopper takes you high up on the glacier and you spend a morning exploring the features that you'd never be able to hike to in a day. Because of the rain however, no flights would be going up
for pretty much the rest of the week and we didn't have time to wait around. After talking to the girl at the counter at the guiding centre though we were sure that a half day hike would allow us to get what we wanted from the experience.
We arrived at the centre and signed a relatively tame disclaimer (compared to some we've completed!) before getting kitted up, They provide you with waterproof jackets and trousers, boots and crampons, woollen socks and hats and gloves if you need. The only problem was Chrissie's boots. Having been given a pair to try on she found that they were too big. On going up to the counter and asking for a smaller pair she was met with raised eyebrows and the incredulous response "Smaller than those?! - Try another pair of socks". An extra pair of socks later the boots were still a little on the loose side but would have to do!
We piled on the bus with the 30 or so other people booked on our trip and jumping off ten minutes later began the 3km walk to the terminal face of the glacier. Jean was feeling very
nervous about the hike so when the group was split into three groups that would go at different speeds we all stayed with the slowest group so that we could view the glacier at a relaxed pace. When we arrived at the towering terimnal face it was pretty much covered in rocks from where a landslide some time ago had covered the entire glacier. Our guide reckoned it'd be about another year before it was clear.
Sitting on the rocks we put on our crampons feeling like very intrepid mounataineers! Before we knew it we were climbing up onto the glacier itself and gaining confidence in the excellent grip that the crampons gave you on the ice. We climbed some steep ice stairs that the guiding team had spent hours creating and were soon afforded some great views back down the valley as. As we climbed higher onto the glacier we began to see the hard compacted blue ice, crevasses and seracs that we'd hoped for. The most exciting part came when we clambered down some steps into a crevass which had formed a tunnel in the ice - the colour was stunning and clear and it was incredible
worming our way through the hole.
After a couple of hours on the ice it was time to make our way back down. Putting our trust into the crampons we carefully made our way down steep steps still passing incredible formations caused by the gradual and continuous movement of the ice. Franz Josef is one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world so the formations change constantly.
We'd had an absolutely amazing time on our hike - thanks again Hazel and Dick. Jean had been very brave and in hindsight thinks she enjoyed the trip too!
In the afternoon we drove the short distance down the road to the Fox Glacier township as we wanted to make the most of the grey but not rainy weather to view Lake Matheson, known for it's spectacular reflections of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. We walked around the lake through lovely bushland and did get some good reflections but sadly not of the mountains as the cloud cover was too thick to even see them.
The rain we'd been threatened with all day finally made an appearance so we left Jean and Mike in the car whilst we
made the walk to the terminal face of Fox Glacier for a look, another very impressive sight.
After getting wet we decided we needed a treat and bought some ingredients for one of our favourite cocktails, sinking some excellent Bloody Marys before dinner.
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