Fox Glacier - Day 8

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No dont need to pack up today as we are spending another night in Haast. Today we wake up and only pack the essentials for our day trip to Fox Glacier. The distance is only about 120kms and driving time is supposed to be 1hr 45mins but we have to get there and register for the hike etc. With our car packed with the essentials we are of - quite excited in fact having never seen a glacier. We make no stop as time is of the essence but as its early in the morning the scenery to Fox Glacier was hauntingly beautiful and will stay in my mind for a long time to come. The vegetation was thick, hardly anyone to be seen, clouds hanging low, morning dew dripping of the leaves and catching the suns first rays making it looks thousands of sticky diamonds thrown over the leaves. Wish I could have stopped and taken in more of the scenery.

First stop - Fox Glacier town. Park up the car and look around for what we want to do, explore the option of a helicopter flight. The salesman is trying to sell us a deal, buy now and get a $100 off, its to expensive and over in 20mins plus we do not get to touch it and see it close up so we settle on the original idea of the half day (4hr hour) hike up the glacier. Just a week or 2 before the start of our trip to the South Island there was a story in the newspaper about an Indian family (Mom, Dad & 2 teenage boys) from Australia who had been visiting the Fox Glacier and the boys had stepped into the "do not enter" zone when a huge chuck of glacier ice had fallen while they were taking pics and killed both the boys instantly. The story had struck with us - maybe because of the senseless death or the pain the parents must have gone through when both their boys died in front of their eyes. We had talked about it for ages and wondered where the boys could have been and did they not hear the chunk breaking off - having never seen a glacier we couldnt quite picture the story. We'll return to this story once we get to the glacier. So we booked our trek - $89 each for 4hrs of guilded trek, not bad I think.

About the trek..........Walkers are kitted out with sturdy leather boots and other equipment, before boarding one of our historic buses for the short drive through the rainforest and into the glacial valley. This valley was carved out by the ice during past ice ages and shows dramatic evidence of the power of the ice.
Your guide leads you on a walk beside the river bed to our secret track which zig-zags slowly uphill for thirty minutes through ferns and regenerating temperate rainforest. From high on the track you enjoy fantastic views of the glacier and its upper and lower icefalls.
From its high point, the track winds down to the edge of the ice. At this point you are outfitted with instep crampons specially designed for these ice conditions, and you follow the ice steps cut by the guides. The route takes you onto the ice amongst crevasses and ice ridges and leads you onto the middle of the glacier for spectacular views of the icefall and lower glacier.
At least one hour is spent on the ice and, depending on glacial conditions.

Driving to the Fox Glacier in the historic bus we can see Mt Cook, this was really awesome for me as I had tired to include Mt Cook in our itinary but we had been pushed for time and had to push it out, I had happy to learn you could see it from Fox Glacier and also from Lake Matheson (yes I totally want to go to Lake Matheson after the hike). We get off just near the glacier and walk towards the track stopping at what is called the glacier terminal face. This is where the most activity happen as the glacier is advancing daily, grinding everything in its path. And this is where the boys we were taking pics when they got killed.

Some facts about Fox Glacier.........At 13kms, Fox Glacier is the longest of the awe-inspiring New Zealand West Coast glaciers. At its head, soaring peaks of over 3,000m (10,000ft) dominate the vista. These include Aoraki (Mt Cook) and Mt Tasman, which, weather permitting, can be viewed on our heli-hiking experience. This mighty moving river of ice falls 2,600 metres, or a little over 8,000ft, on its journey from the base of the Southern Alps to the West Coast. New Zealand’s West Coast glaciers are unique and probably the most accessible glaciers in the world, as they terminate amongst temperate rainforest just 250m above sea level. So special is this mountain environment, that it forms part of the South Westland World Heritage Area.
Fox Glacier moves fast...
The unique combination of climate and shape means that Fox (and Franz Josef) Glaciers move at approximately 10 times the speed of other valley glaciers around the world. At Fox Glacier this is due to the funnel-like shape of the glacial valley and the huge nevé, the snow accumulation area, at the top of the glacier. Fox Glacier’s nevé is 36 square kms, bigger than the whole of Christchurch City!
...and is currently advancing!
Glaciers constantly advance and retreat, held in delicate balance by the accumulation of snow gained in the upper glacier and ice melting in the lower part. An increase in snowfall at the nevé will result in the glacier advancing. Correspondingly, a faster melt will result in the glacier retreating. Overall Fox Glacier has been advancing since 1985.

The hike was tough at times, but not too bad overally, we stopped at some crek to fill our water bottles, the water doesnt get any fresher than this - so cold as well. Once the trek through the rainforest, we put on our crampons and onto the ice. It wasnt the clear blue like I had seen in the pics and that was because we were at the lower half of the glacier, where all the grinding goes on. We would half to take the full day trek to get to the clear bit. Time wasnt on our side and I had to consider by preggy sis as well - another time maybe. I was just happy learning about glaciers and seeing just how awesome glaciers are. The pics do not do justice to the awesomeness of the glacier but will have to suffice.

Back at the Fox Glacier Centre we returned the gear, got our certificates (yes we got certicates😉) and headed for the car for some lunch. Considered buying some lunch but decided to eat the leftovers from the boot of the car. The walk had made us hot, so we changed into shorts and headed for Lake Matheson.

Second stop - Lake Matheson. At Lake Matheson, near Fox Glacier, nature has combined exactly the right ingredients to create truly stunning reflections of New Zealand's highest peaks - Aoraki (Mount Cook) and Mount Tasman. The waters of Lake Matheson are dark brown, so on a calm day they create the ideal reflective surface. The colour is caused by natural leaching of organic matter from the surrounding native forest floor. By a happy coincidence, the mountains to the east are perfectly positioned to reflect in the lake. Its a one and a half hour walk around Lake Matheson. Angie and I head off and soon Angie is tired and heads back to the car - I do the entire curcuit and am so disappointed, the whole time it was cloudly and there was no refection on Mt Cook as it was covered in clouds. The Lake was beautiful and I imagine it looking spectular on a clear day when reflecting sunset and Mt Cook but today was not one of those days. Felt like a waste of time. Stopped at the gift shop and bought Bals a eco friendly shopping bag with whacky designs. Its getting late so we decide to head back for Haast as there are a couple of stops we want to make that we had missed on the the way to Fox Glacier this morning.

Third stop - Bruce Bay. We stop here breifly to enjoy the scenery and have a walk on the beach - totally got chowed by the sandflies so ran back to the car. There were heaps of stone piles at the side of the road that looked really beautiful - I think they might have to do with Maori beliefs and Tapu. I am so tired of being chowed and seriously wish I had bought some insect repellent, cant stop itching and covered in big red lumps , some starting to go blue and purple from the itching and the heat.

Fouth stop - Knights Point Lookout. A great lookout point with spectacular scenery below. Again we open the door of the car to jump out and a hundred sand flies jump in and start chomping us. Far out - I hate the little fuckers. We jump in the car in a hurry and drive out there. Think we might stop at the Salmon farm we saw earlier and buy a few Salmon steaks for dinner. Alas the place had closed half an hour earlier and so no Salmon steak for us.

Final stop - Haast. Back as Haast, we are exhausted and bitten - after a relaxing some shower I run in heaps of Anthisan cream to get some relief from the bites. Have some dinner, wine and crush - lights out.

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