Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers

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We arrived at Franz Josef Township that afternoon. The sun was out and the weather was reasonably warm. We checked into the Rainforest Resort motor park, which had its own bar with meal deals. We parked Red Dwarf in amongst the foliage and went to suss the place out. We had read a leaflet in Greymouth about Franz Josef Glacier, and had decided to do a glacier valley walk the following day with a guide. We went to reception to book it, and the girl advised us to pay a little extra and go on a half day glacier walk on the next glacier, Fox. The glacier valley walk we could do ourselves. So our plan was to walk the Franz Josef valley the following day, and then head down to Fox the day after, on our way south to Wanaka. That afternoon, we had a look around the alpine town, the sun was starting to go in and it was getting cold. We stopped into a cosy pub, sat by the fire and played cards over a pint or two. It was happy hour, so we got our pints for $5 (a bargain in NZ). After that, we went back to our campsite and cooked dinner. The movie "Gladiator" was on the TV in the kitchen so we sat and watched that for the evening. We were knackered after our night in Greymouth and the long drive!

Next morning we woke pretty late and got breakfast. We headed on our glacier valley walk about lunchtime. It was about an hours walk from the campsite to the start of the walk, so we set off through the town. We walked across a huge bridge that took us over the rivers of glacier meltwater. We noticed that the rivers water was really really blue- more than normal. On the bridge, we took some photos of the valley. To our left, we could see the alps towering above, the gravelly valley, and a bit of the Franz Josef peeping out between the peaks. To the right, we looked down the glacier valley where the river snaked down towards the sea. When we got to the glacier valley park, we read the safety signs (beware of rockfalls, stay on the trail, do not climb over barriers, beware or icefalls, etc) and started off on the walk. As we turned a corner, we could see the valley open out in front of us and Franz Josef glacier up the top. It was a spectacular sight. We made our way along the valley towards the glacier. Along the walk we could see from the rocks that the glacier had scratched them as it moved up the valley. THere were signposts all along the way telling us how many years ago the glacier was at particular points, and what wildlife was there. We stroled through the rainforest first. We walked as far up the valley as we could, and it got progressively colder. There was a barrier in the valley about 100m away from the front of the glacier, because you are not allowed nearer unless you have a guide. We were curious to see what it would be like on the glacier, and were glad we didnt pay money to just walk up the valley. We were looking forward to getting onto Fox glacier the following day. There were signs everywhere saying not to cross, and a billboard showed how two Indian tourists climbed the barrier, got trapped under an icefall and died. We walked back through the valley to the car park and ate our lunch. After that, we headed back to the campsite.Since we got a voucher for the bar at reception when we checked in, we went there to get dinner that night instead of cooking in. The food was yum and the bar was really cosy. We had a few beers and soaked up the atmosphere- there were skiers and glacier walkers chattering about their day´s activities.

The next morning, we got up about 6.30 and left about 7.30. We had to be at Fox at 8.30. Fox is only a 20 minute drive from Franz Josef but because it was early, the roads were still pretty icy, so we had to allow a bit of time to get there. The roads go around the mountains so they´re also pretty windy. We got to Fox in plent of time and waited to be called for our tour. Eventually we were called into the ´Boot Room´to begin our tour. Our guide, Tom, gave us our gear which was hiking boots, raincoats, waterproof bags and crampons. Crampons are metal spikes you tie onto your boots so you can walk on the ice. He gave us a few safety tips, then we boarded a bus to take us to the glacier. On the bus we drove over a dip on the road, and Tom informed us we had just driven over a fault line, from the Pacific Plate to the Australian Plate. We got off the bus after a 20 minute drive and started walking up the valley towards the glacier. Tom explained about the blue water in the rivers- there is a mineral in the water that reflects more blue light than water, and this mineral is also in the glacial ice. He explained that the vertical lines on the walls of the valley are layers of rock turned on their side- the alps used to be sea bed until they started getting pushed up by the colliding plates. The horizontal lines were scrape-marks from the glacier. When we got near to the glacier we could see the blue ice really clearly. We got on our crampons, and set out onto the glacier. We noticed there were steps carved out on the ice- the rangers get up really early and come along with axes to carve out the steps for us. They have to do this every day. We walked through a few crevaces with blue ice all around. We came across an area where the bodies of ice are moving at different speeds, creating a hollow in the ice. We walked through a mulan- a tunnel made from falling rainwater. By now, more groups had started to come onto the glacier, so we started to walk back. We stopped at an ice cave and got our photo taken. On the way back through the valley we spotted a Kea, an alpine parrot, which are infamous for being very wily. He stoled around while we took photos of him, he seemed pretty non-plussed! We got back to the bus and it drove us to Fox township where we had a bite to eat and a cup of coffee. It was my birthday, so Dave gave me my present (a Kindle!) and then we set off on the long drive to Wanaka.

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Photos

Truck stop!
You can see the Alps behind

Franz Joseph Glacier Valley
You can see all the gravel left behind by the glacier

Fox Glacier Valley
The vertical lines on the rock show that it has been tipped on its side- this used to be a sea bed. The horizontal lines are striations from the glacier moving down the valley

Dave and Orlagh
At the Fox Glacier Valley

The snout of the glacier
This is the very front of the glacier

Walking through a Crevace
The blue ice is due to a chemical in the water which reflects blue light

Ice Steps
Rangers come out with axes every morning to carve out steps for visitors

Kea
An Alpine Parrot. These birds are very clever and are known to steal your shoelaces and rubber off your windscreen wipers to make their nests.

Reflective pools
You can see the glacier reflected in the pool