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Published: January 1st 2009
Hello!
Back to the boring blogs now - no daredevil antics this time we're afraid! From Queenstown we made our way over to Westland and Northwards to two of New Zealands biggest attractions: Fox and Franz Josef glaciers.
They are both still descending and develop at a really fast rate due to the amount of rainfall they get over here on the West coast. On average the glaciers descend about 1.5m per DAY, and Franz Josef can sometimes move as much as 5m - 10 times faster than the Swiss glaciers!
Fox Glacier is the smaller of the two and was the first that we visited. We took a short walk to a viewpoint but couldn't get too close as the path was shut due to a recent rockfall! Impressed with the size of the glacier we left and stopped off at the nearby beach for a spot of lunch and a stroll - very odd to have two such different landscapes so close to each other!
A few minutes drive and we were at Franz Josef, a bigger and much more impressive chunk of ice! This time we decided to take a walk right up to
the terminal face. Upon reaching the main viewpoint we were confronted with a large warning sign advising us not to proceed without mountaineering experience! We stood and considered the options for a while and decided that we'd be alright considering there was a long conga-line of tour groups snaking there way up there!
The only obstacle now was a fast flowing, river of fresh ice-melt.........Frrreeeeezzzinng, so cold that it made your feet hurt and then eventually lose feeling!
Dan - Mary mother of Jesus it was cold!!!!! Strew'th.....nothing a stiff 5.00pm drink won't sort out. We're still wondering if the mints 'Foxes Glacier mints' are a name rip off or not. Not really much else to report found a nice campsite with a picnic table nearby......a real luxury at the minute (cooking while sitting on your haunches buggers the knees!) 2+ weeks living in a car pretty good going I say!!
More soon
Us
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PS.......Happy New Year to everyone, have a drink on us!
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Pippa and Dan
non-member comment
New Year and Birthday wishes
Hi you two.. Happy New Year! and Happy Birthday to you Dan for the 4th, what devlish adventure have you decided for that day ?? My Dan is very jealous about your plane jump he keeps trying to encourage me to do it, but I don't have the same bottle as you, Nic you have nerves of steel and I think a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Very cold here but I think you have the edge on the scenic views. Don't fancy walking through the cold water though!