Ice Ice Baby

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Listed as a must do in every guide book we have read and recommended to us by everyone we met in New Zealand, the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers on the west coast of the South Island, were penciled in to be one of the highlights of our whole trip, let alone our time here. Would we get up close and personal with huge ice formations and freezing caves on a guided hike on the glaciers? Or maybe we would splash out for a once in a lifetime helicopter flight over the Southern Alps and glaciers with an exhilarating snow landing? These were the choices facing us as we drove south through the drizzle to the northernmost glacier at Franz Josef.

After checking in at our campsite and brimming with excitement at what the days ahead would bring, we made our way into the small township of Franz Josef (which was very similar to a European ski resort town.) Our first stop was one of the helicopter flight companies to find out prices and times for their flights. Imagine our dismay when the guy there told us the west coast was due to be hit that evening with the biggest storm currently on the planet! Needless to say, he was pained to point out that there would be next to no chance of any flights taking place over the glaciers for the next four to five days. Rach and I questioned just how bad this storm could be. We would find out over the next week that we were wrong to question nature and its power!

We decided to get a taster of the glaciers and the landscape surrounding us by watching the Flowing West short film at the small cinema. It gave us an idea of how unique and varied this small part of the world is. One of the glaciers is 13km long and at the start of it is an enormous mountain rang, after it cuts a large icy swathe out of the rock towards the terminal face a river flows from it surrounded by temperate, lush rainforest towards the wild Tasman Sea, a mere 20km away. This kind of varied landscape in such a small space is not seen anywhere else in the world.

With our appetites whetted and our fingers crossed that the forecasts for this storm would be inaccurate, we spent the evening playing cards before dropping off to sleep. Our slumber didn’t last long as we experienced booming thunder, flashing lightning, crashing hailstone, torrential rain and high winds all within the space of an hour at around 1am. Enjoying watching spectacular electric storms 10km away from the safety of a large Jamaican villa made from bricks and mortar is a slightly different and more fun experience than being slap bang in the middle of one the size of Australia in a small tin van which feels like it is going to tip over at any moment! Thankfully, I’m sure you will agree, we made it through the night and awoke to grey clouds but no rain. We thought to ourselves that at least we would get to go on a guided hike on the glacier today. As we went into town to find out more, the heavens opened and freezing, torrential icy rain started to bucket down from the skies above. We made the sensible decision that paying through the nose for a hike wouldn’t be a wise idea if we were going to spend 6 hours on a block of ice getting pummeled from the air by slightly smaller blocks of ice!

We braved the conditions to do our own walks in the area with the safety net of our van and the flask of hot water nearby! The first walk we went on involved a short but steep climb to the top of Sentinel Rock where we were got some great views of the terminal face of Franz Josef Glacier. It was starting to dawn on us just how huge these huge structures of ice were and how amazing it was that here we were standing in a rainforest only a few hundred metres from millions of tons of ice slowly edging its way closer and closer to the town we had spent the night in. According to some of the literature we had read, the glaciers here are advancing at a rate of up to 1.5 metres a day. Most glaciers in the world are retreating but these are continuing their journey towards the sea. The reason for this is that the ice is melting at the face slower than snow is falling and being compacted to ice at the top. Global warming my arse! Another walk soon after took us to a place called Peters Pool, where again we got some great views of the glacier, this time from closer to ground level but still a few hundred metres away. The weather was continuing to conspire against us so we decided to drive the short distance to the town of Fox Glacier.

For anyone that has seen pictures of the glaciers and Mount Cook (the largest mountain in New Zealand), you will have undoubtedly seen the mountains reflected in a beautifully still lake on a gorgeous sunny day. This lake is called Lake Matheson and is a few kilometers away from Fox Glacier town and it was the site of our next walk. Unfortunately due to the weather, when we arrived at the point on the lake where these beautiful vistas are normally photographed from, hail was pouring from the sky, the mountains were obscured by clouds and the lake was a muddy brown colour. Oh well, the walk was good for us and the trees were nice! On the walk back to the car we posed for a few ‘Japanese’ photos as you will see!!

Just as the light was fading and we were getting ready settle in for the night at the campsite in Fox, we got a small peek of the beautiful mountain scenery that surrounded us, as the rain ceased, the sun came out and the sky turned blue. We were half tempted to go into town and ask if they could quickly fly us around now whilst the weather was settled! Our hopes were raised even more on Saturday morning when we awoke to more blues skies and a few clouds here and there. According to the helicopter company, this was a brief respite and the next front of the storm was heading our way soon. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be! We took a walk to the terminal face (or a close as we are allowed to the terminal face without a guide) of the Fox Glacier and were again astounded by just how huge the glacier was. We saw a guided walking group on top of the glacier and they looked like ants in comparison to the vast ice structure they were walking on. We got some pictures and I took some rubbish attempts at artistic photos of the cascading waterfalls and gentle streams on the way to the terminal face. We also had some photos taken of us looking like the Michelin Man and his wife, wrapped up in numerous fleeces, t shirts, thermals and our lovely matching coats as well as our NZ branded scarf and hat!

Our stay in Glacier country wasn’t quite the experience we expected but it was still fantastic to see these unique and huge glaciers. Its hard to describe just how big these are. We would think they were massive if they were just a normal river or a building or something, but to be solid ice in an area so accessible and easy to see, was amazing.

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Photos

Lake Matheson
Normally had amazing reflective views of Mt Cook, too much rain and cloud when we were there!

The view from the Fox Gacier campsite
When the sun finally came out