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Published: March 15th 2011
Washed Away Sign
The valley could become awash with an inland tsnami at any minute! © Adrianne YzermanHappy Australia Day to us! If we were at home, we’d be drinking champas and downing bacon & eggs at our local community Centre. Instead we’re in still bed listening to a variety of choppers flying to the glacier. Brendan says this is like being amist the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War . I did consider going for a helicopter tour on my own, but every year I hear on the news how at least one crashes every year, the latest being last September with 9 dead. I’m not taking any chances, even in the name of a good National Geo cover shot! We pack and leave by 0930 hours and drove a short distance out of town to the Glacier. About a kilometre or so from the glacier head there are already signs saying that the head of the galcier was here in the 1970s. A testament to the fact that this glacier is melting at a rapid rate.
The Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers cut through dramatic glacial valleys to flow into temperate rainforest. While many glaciers world wide have been retreating, these glaciers still flow almost to sea level, making them a unique relic of the
last Ice Age. Hang on a minute you say. If this glacier is not retreating then how can it be further down the valley (toward the coast) in the 1970s and a whole 3km further toward the coast in 1750 when Captain Cook first saw them? That’s because the advancing simply hasn’t been enough to counteract the melting. However, it does occasionally buck the trend by advancing about 5 years after a very heavy snowfall in the mountains.
In the car park we kit up with wet weather gear as it looks like it is going to rain. In an area which receives 5 metres of annual rainfall, I need little convincing that it WILL rain. We take the Glacier Valley walk which is about 1 hour and 20 minutes return along the Fox River river bed to the glacier terminal. Along the way I think of the pictures I’m going to take when we get there, when suddenly I discover an important omission in our family. I suddenly stop and urgently ask my sons if they have seen Brown? He is a little teddy bear that belongs to them. He goes everywhere with us when ever we or
I go on holidays. So far he has been with me to Africa and Cambodia. This is his first holiday with us as a family and we take pictures of him everywhere. Of course no body had any idea of his whereabouts, so we slowly back track to his last sighting. Lleyton is absolutely sure that he had him in bed last night. Right after I told the boys not to take him to bed otherwise he gets lost in the covers and we don’t think to look for him in the rush to get going every morning. The boys are fighting back tears about Brown who is potentially lost in a strange country all by himself. The situation is perilous, so I try and sooth their concerns by telling the boys I am sure he is still in the room we’ll go back to the holiday park and check afterwards.
Another dire situation is upon us as we continue walking. We all now how dangerous glacier walking can be, but no one really tells you how Glacier moraine (the glacial valley where the glacier used to be) walking can also be dangerous and I wonder if I should
be leading my family into a death trap when I see danger signs at every turn. For instance, warning number 1. Heavy rain can destabilise steep valley walls, causing rock fall. Do not stop in marked rock fall areas. I can’t figure this out, have they done scientific statistical studies on whether you are more likely to be hit by rocks if you are just standing still, than if you are simply walking past. Surely it is safer to not go there at all. Warning number 2, glacial rivers can be dammed by ice falls; the dam will burst creating a huge surge of water and ice, flooding the valley. This is complete with warning boards clearly showing the exact same spot you are standing with a raging tsunami like torrent flushing out the valley. By the way, an ice fall could dam up rainwater at any old time and there is simply no notice when it will break. Warning number 3, never go over the barrier and stand close to the glacier face – rocks and ice fall from the terminal face continuously – some pieces can be twice the size of a campervan! Out of 600,000 visitors to
both glaciers every year, about a 200,000 people ignore the warnings and go behind the barriers. Sadly, two years ago this number included the only children of a Melbourne couple, who were adults and were buried under 100s of tonnes of ice. I think about all this as I scramble over stream crossings by rock hopping and praying I don’t end up in the stream like a stranded upturned turtle with all of my photographic gear saturated. There’s no one to check if I do as the family have no patience for my frequent photographic stops and always charge on ahead. Naturally, it starts to drizzle just as I’m at the terminal head ready to take some more photos. I cover up all my gear and then my camera with a shower cap with the lens poking through a hole. Unfortunately, the direction of the rain is heading right where I want to take a picture. I wipe my lens in between each shot and hope it will be quick enough before the next spot of rain.
Back in town the search party successfully finds Brown before he is whisked away by cleaning staff. By this stage the weather
Spot the Tourists #1
There are actually tourists walking along the glacial moraine valley in this photo. I took it to get some perspective of how high the mountain rises above the valley bed. © Adrianne Yzerman is busy making a push into the 5 metres of rainfall expected for this year and it doesn't stop until we get to Wanaka, some 6 hours later. We pass through what would’ve been some seriously awesome scenery if we could see past the awesome heavy rain and low cloud. Well…for someone who hasn’t seen rain for near on two years now, it was seriously awesome! Driving to Wanaka was like driving through Niagara Falls. The rain was literally pouring off the mountains and straight onto the road and our car. It wasn’t exactly warm outside but we had to drive with the air conditioning on just so we could get rid of the fog on the inside of the windscreen. The weather holds us captive inside the car for lunch, the problem being all our food was in the back and we can’t get at it to make a snadwich inside the car. It just so happens that we arrive in Haast at 1400 hours when we notice the quaint World Heritage Pub through the downpour. We decide to bite the bullet and pay for lunch today. I don’t mind one bit as it gives us safe refuge from
the unrelenting precipitation. There is a stone fireplace complete with a roaring fire and is as welcoming as a cold drink on a sizzling summers day. It seems the entire population of Haast is in there all snuggled up in the cozy atmosphere. I am really disappointed that my choice of seafood chowder isn’t available for my leave pass lunch so I settle for a yummy pumpkin soup while the boys had hotdogs and fries. It was like how I imagine a Alpine Lodge to be and am not keen to face the torrential weather again, but one must press onto to drier pastures. Closer to Wanaka we start to pass some amazing lakes that look as big as inland oceans. Lake Hawea had the most amazing blue colour even in the awful overcast dreary weather. I could almost imagine the iridescent turquoise colour it would be on a nice sunny day.
We checked into our accommodation which is fantastically roomy in order to spread our wings for the next 2 nights. We need to more grocery shopping after the absence of any decent shops since Greymouth, so we went to New World (Coles in Western Australia) to get
Warning signs
© Adrianne Yzerman something for dinner, and then went for a walk to the foreshore of Lake Wanaka. By this stage the sun had made an amazing appearance and the world looked glorious. I have never seen anything like this since I left Europe in the spring. The streets are lined with a vista of poplars, elms and firs against the backdrop of the alluring azure of the Lake. I’m so glad that I took the advice of spending time here and not Queenstown. I kicked myself for leaving the camera behind as it could be awful weather again tomorrow. After all we were only going to go grocery shopping! The kids play in the park for a little while and then we went back to the Top 10 Holiday Park, a few kilometres out of town on the Mt Aspiring road. The kids then play in the pool while Brendan cooks up some chops, chicken kebabs, mashed spuds and frozen veges. I really must mention the frozen veges here as the selection is far more interesting than what we can buy at home. We bought a mix of Edamame beans, yellow and orange carrots. It was incredibly yummy and is unable to bought at home. What a shame! I also lash out and bought a cheesecake and Movenpick icecream for dessert. I am desperate for an early night, but the daylight savings makes this nearly impossible. I am so tired.
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