Franz Joseph Glacier Trekking

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Well as luck would have it I managed to get a rental car the day I left Kinloch lodge. I'm probably one of the few people who was able to get a car in Queenstown. Timing is everything. Anyway after pondering the limitations of taking the bus I thought I'd just check. I didn't really expect to find one. So I've traveled by plane, train, bicycle, bus, and now automobile. I would have liked to continue to cycle up the west coast but I just ran out of time and there were a few things on my list that I just had to do. One of which was glacier trek on the Franz Joseph Glacier.

I left Queenstown and drove over Haast Pass to the coast. I stayed at the motor camp, pitched my tent and got a great night's sleep. Although it started raining hard at around midnight and did not let up. I awoke to rain, packed my wet tent in the trunk of the car and set off for Franz Joseph. Needless to say I was bummed. The rain was coming down in buckets. I stopped at a couple of road side view points and the rain was coming in sideways under the covered viewing areas. Oh well. The forest was dripping with water. Waterfalls popped up everywhere. I've never seen so many waterfalls in one place before. The clouds hung low over the trees and there were no views beyond the roadway. I continued to Franz Joseph village where everyone else was trying to find something to do in the rain. I drove through to the motor camp where I had made reservations to tent. I dreaded the idea of trying to put a soaking wet tent up in the pouring rain. Well, they didn't have my reservation but they did have one cabin left. Ofcourse it cost me because it had a kitchen and a TV. I took it. Every place I had passed up til then had "No Vacancy" posted. Everyone was trying to get out of the rain.

Anyway. It was great to have a safe haven. I left and went back up to town to check in for my Glacier Trek the next day. I thought if its raining like this I'm not going. I don't care if I loose my money. After being overwhelmed by a bus load of backpackers all lined up to sign up for the trekking I went to the store and got food for the day. Then back to my oasis for a nap. Seemed like a good thing to do in the rain.

At around 4pm, the sky cleared and the rain stopped. I jumped into my car and went for a drive out to a point on the ocean for a walk on the ocean beach. Then I drove back towards town and did a loop hike around Lake Matheson. Apparently on a calm clear day you can see Mt. Cook reflected in its waters with the mountain in the back drop. Today I just had a nice hike through native bush. At the parking lot I finally got to see the infamous Kea, the native New Zealand parrot. They are known for being mischievous, devious, and opportunistic. One tourist put it like crows only more cheeky. Anyway there was a whole flock of them flying around taking handouts from the tourists. They are interesting. Apparently they are supposed to be the smartest bird. They make a sound that sounds like an old woman "Oh my" in a whiny voice. They have orange on there wings that you see when they fly. They are a dark green color and very hearty looking.

After that I went back to my cabin and cooked a leisurely dinner. No other campers to dance around in the communal kitchen. Its fun but it can be a challenge at times if I make the mistake and do dinner at dinner time.

Trekking on the Franz Joseph Glacier

I awoke in the morning to a clear star filled sky. I watched the sun rise and saw the snow covered Southern Alps in the distance. I thought. I hope that my luck will hold and it will be a sunny day. You never know.

I checked in at the Glacier guiding service. There were tons of people. Part of me was thinking this is going to be one of those canned tourist treks where they have a trail and you follow the leader, blah, blah, blah. Oh well. I wanted to see this glacier. It is one of the few glaciers in the world that comes down to sea level. One of the others is Fox Glacier which is just down the road and there is another one in South America.

They provide you with boots, rain pants, rain coat, Merlino wool hat, socks, and gloves (imagine that, wool), and talons (crampons). We jumped in a bus and headed for the glacier. It was an easy 3 mile hike to the base of the glacier where we put our talons on. Then we followed a set trail that is cut in everyday. Its about 45 minutes of steps with ropes railing and 4 bridges over larger crevasses. This was serious stuff. Even though it looks tame there are places where if you fall its all over. Our guide did stress that a number of times. Apparently some people just don't get it.

Then the fun began. Instead of following set tracks our guide cuts a new one. So off we went on wild adventure trekking through canyons of blue ice. Up steep newly cut steps that were almost vertical. Side stepping up a narrown crevasse canyon, quick belaying down a steep slope. It was amazing and the scenery was just unreal. All around us was canyons of white and blue ice. Up the glacier was a maze of crevasses and ice peaks. We spent about 4 hours exploring. Towards the end we found an absolutely beautiful blue ice cave that went from one crevasse valley to another. We were able to climb down into it and then through it and up to the other crevasse valley. I was in awe. I'd been on crevasses in the last year but this was different. Instead of being more snow that ice on the surface this was a maze of blue ice. A truly unique and amazing experiece.

We spent a good 8 hour day with 6 of it on the glacier. Definitely one of the highlights of my trip and the weather was PERFECT!

After the climbing I drove to the coast to Hokitita and camped for the night within walking distance of the ocean beach. I pitched my tent and then went down to the beach and leaned again some driftwood and watched the sun set. An absolutely perfect day!

Next
Forest and ocean Paradise in Punakiki- more later.

Backyard Adventure Girl

Lisa

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