Advertisement
Published: August 31st 2009
Edit Blog Post
So the theme of this blog is rain as that is all it did in the three days we stayed in Franz Josef!
Wednesday morning rolled around and Steve and I were both suffering from cabin fever having spent so much time in the car without doing any real exercise so we decided whatever the weather we would head out. Unfortunately the weather in Franz Josef on Wednesday was serious rain. Anyway after having eaten some lunch we headed up to the glacier. Our original idea had been to walk up via the track from the town however we were told the track had been closed as a result of the weather. So we drove the car to the main car park and set off. I think the photos from that day say it all as my camera was wet as soon as I lifted it out of its case. Effectively the rain soaked my legs thoroughly within 15 minutes (thankfully my waterproof jacket proved waterproof!).
We walked along the track to the Franz Josef view point however the only thing that was on view was some waterfalls on the cliffs at the side as the glacier was hidden
by the rain and cloud. We retraced our steps and found another glacier view point however the view was equally the same. We retraced our steps back to the car park and found an alternative track which we walked down and found a bridge across the river so having embraced the rain we continued on. Our two hours out in the rain effectively found us walking down tracks which then came to an end or had a sign hanging across it advising it was closed due to the weather conditions. We did cross one of the closed track signs to find 200m down the track that it turned into a river.... Deciding our long walk was not meant to be we headed back to the hostel.
Thankfully this was one of the nicer hostels and had a sauna included so having changed out of my sopping wet clothes and put them in the washer I headed to the sauna to warm up and relax. It is sometimes hard to be a traveller! Whilst we had been out on our walk we had heard an odd rumble of thunder however that night the rain and wind picked up and there
was a minor thunderstorm causing the lights to flicker however by 11pm the electricity went out and did not properly return until 11am Wednesday morning.
On arrival in New Zealand I only had two things that I HAD to do the first was skiing and the second was a glacier walk. So Wednesday had been reserved for the glacier walk. I had initially wanted to do a full day walk however due to the rain and the soaking the day before I decided to do a half day walk only. Steve and I jumped into the car and set off for the Fox Glacier in order to do the 1.30pm walk. Steve wasn't convinced about doing the walk so came loaded with a book however on arrival he decided that he would do the walk as he didn't want me coming back raving about it having not done it.
On checking in for the walk we were given a pair of walking boots and waterproof trousers. We were then given a preliminary talk the main point of which was that as a result of the rain they were experiencing a high number of rockfalls and therefore if our
guide, Graham, shouted run he would point in a direction and we had to run as fast as we could! I can honestly say that the half day walk was worth the money and I enjoyed every minute of it despite having wet feet within the first 10 minutes.
In order to reach the glacier we had to walk through a few rivers that had swollen as a result of the recent rain so we were soon wading through water that went over the top of your boots. After a 2 hour walk we reached the glacier and so put on our crampons and armed ourselves with walking sticks with nails in the end (I can't remember their name for the minute..!). The walk across the glacier lasted for just over an hour and was amazing albeit by the end of it I had lost all feeling in my feet they were that cold! I would definitely do a full day glacier tour in the future however I would ensure it wasn't raining as much so as to make it slightly more enjoyable and less cold!
Thankfully we did not have any rockfalls on our side of the
valley requiring us to “run” however we were witness to numerous falls on the opposite valley. There was even a radio transmission between the guides that it sounded like a war was going off! After a visit to the hostel sauna the feeling returned to my feet - thankfully!
Thursday morning and we were up and out of the hostel and travelling across the Southern Alps to Wanaka.....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.398s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 46; dbt: 0.3374s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb