West to the Glaciers

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October 5th 2006

Published: October 5th 2006

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Lake Matheson

And so we hit off on our trusty steed (read: battered rental Corolla), following the spectactulour Tranzalpine trail through the Southern Alps from Christchurch to the west coast, through Arthurs Pass. The scenery (chosen as the Misty Mountains for LOTR) was fantastic, and we stopped a couple of times to head off on a "tramp" or walk through the forestry and mountains to waterfalls and scenic viewpoints.

Finally arrived in "Glacier Country", home of the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, and stopped in Franz Josef, a tiny 2-street village probably smaller than Geesala at home! Booked on the full-day hike on Franz Josef (the word's steepest and fastest flowing commercially guided glacer), before taking the car down to the nearby Fox Glacer to do some more tramping in the area round the glacier itself and Lake Matheson. The actual glacier hiking on FJ was OK, but not the great experience I had expected - there was a lot of hanging around waiting for stairs to be cut out by our guide with her pick-axe, and not very much of the real ice-blue ice you see in all the brochures.

To be honest, for anyone coming to glacier country, I

Fox Glacier

would recommend simply saving your money and doing the walks to the glacier viewpoints, and to the glacier terminal faces (unless you really want to splash out and do the heli-hike, which has been highly recommended but simply out of our budget at the time).

Having had enough of Glaciers, we hit south for Wanaka, a pretty town on the edge of a lake, and while a typical centre for ski tourism, the end of the ski-season meant it was very quiet. Unlucky to discover that canyoning season had not yet started, we passed the day visiting Puzzling World, a centre with optical illusions and a huge maze, and mashing a few golf balls at the nearby driving range (where Thomas also took a shot at the clay-pigeon shooting!).

Next stop Queenstown!!

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