From Greymouth we continued south along the coast. We were a little ‘dehydrated’ after the brewery tour and night hanging out with our new friends Lauren and Brad. The scenery was really nice as we passed by beautiful coastlines beyond pastures of sheep to our right and picturesque mountains to our left.
We passed through many scary one lane bridges in New Zealand, but this had to be the most frightening. Not only did we have to contend with oncoming traffic, but also had to be wary of trains. The tracks run right along that same bridge! This is multipurpose at its worst.
Almost the entire drive down we got glimpses of the mountain ranges that include Mount Cook and the Glacier region. Once we got closer we were enveloped by a dense rain forest. We were definitely on the tourist route and got stuck behind a Kiwi Experience bus, one of those hop-on-hop-off backpacker buses. We also passed the same brown minivan three times because we kept stopping to enjoy the different sights along the drive.
This being one of the sights, a wide river filled with glacier water. The water from the glaciers carry with it this cloud of limestone and minerals that creates the cloudy, white-blue color.
We got to Franz Josef (the town) a little early before our room was ready, so we decided to drive out to the coast where there are several lagoons. The one pictured to the right connects out to the ocean at this point. This area is also a habitat to many kiwis, but they are virtually impossible to see in nature.
This was the view from our front door at the Top 10 Holiday Park were we stayed. Top 10 is a solid chain of holiday parks with very well kept amenities; we are fans. Franz Josef the town itself is extremely small, about two blocks by two blocks of approximately 8 hotels, 6 restaurants, 1 market, and 1 gas station (that charges 25 cents more per liter!).
We booked our glacier hike on Franz Josef Glacier for the next day and drove on south about another 30 minutes of steep, wind-y road to Fox Glacier. Fox has advanced and receded over the ages and has carved out this valley with steep mountains around it. There are many waterfalls one both sides of the valley that fill into a river that is also fed by the melting glacier water. It’s about a 30 minute walk from the car park to the terminus (the face of the glacier). The picture below is the view back from the glacier down the valley.
A short drive from Fox is Lake Matheson. At the car park, there is an information center and a really nice café/restaurant with incredible views of the mountains and plains. From here you cross a swaying suspension bridge and find yourself in this flourishing forest surrounding the lake. There are ferns everywhere and moss that grows on moss (we are a sucker for moss).
Lake Matheson is known for being extremely reflective because the water is very clear and it is very still water. Walking down along one side of the lake and curling around to the other end, you come to Reflection Island. From there, this is the incredible view that your eyes get to feast on.
Lake Matheson is known for being extremely reflective because the water is very clear and it is very still water. Walking down along one side of the lake and curling around to the other end, you come to Reflection Island. From there, this is the incredible view that your eyes get to feast on.
The following day we made our way to the Franz Josef Glacier Guides company in town. They have quite the operation going and must be raking it in. They herd you into a system of getting your gear, oriented, and onto the bus that takes you to the glacier. Everyone is giving a Smurf blue, waterproof shell, black ski pants, dusty brown boots, and screaming red bum bags (New Zealand for fanny pack) with crampons. The walk to the glacier itself is a 1 hour trek through the enormous valley, with it beautiful steep cliff sides and numerous waterfalls.
It’s hard to tell from the picture how massive the glacier is, but on our half-day hike, we only get to the top of that first level (if you break it into three levels). It can be dangerous on the glacier and every so often a tourist who wanders onto the glacier alone and end up front page news being crushed by ice or rocks. We made sure to stick with the group and stay in single file as instructed by our guide Rob. The rocky hill we are scaling is covering part of the glacier beneath.
Each day the glacier melts and refreezes, which changes its landscape daily. If you come back a week later, it would look completely different. Each morning, the guides have to work to cut a new path and create stairs for us tourists to scale. Below Rob sinks his trusty ice pick to create a hold for the rope hand rail.
With our crampons now securely fastened, we were ready to scale this formidable block of ice. The following is a pictorial tour of our journey to the top of our hike.
We were sad to leave the glacier and its amazing sights, but it was time to move on.
No comments:
Post a Comment