Day 30: Fox Glacier

Lucinda was rather surprised at our request for a 10am breakfast, but we loved the late morning and felt quite refreshed. We went for a quick hike down to Lake Matheson, which is featured in thousands of photos, with Mount Cook looming in the background (frequently reflected in the calm lake). It was drizzling most of the morning, so no views of the mountains for us, but it was still beautiful.

We joined an afternoon trek up onto Fox Glacier, since you need to be with a guide to go onto the glaciers, and they provide the crampons and other gear you need. It’s an hour and a half hike through the glacier valley each way, then an hour on the glacier itself. The valley is pretty remarkable, since you’re hiking in rain forest with only a shirt and shorts, while you can see the glacier next to you, less than 100 meters away. It’s one of only 2 places in the world with this combination, the other being Patagonia. The top of the glacier gets 40 meters (yes, 120 feet) of snow a year on average, which compacts down to about 10 feet of glacial ice.

Once you get out onto the ice, you definitely need a jacket and maybe long pants and another layer or two. Between the steps the guides carve out for you, the crampons, and the hiking sticks they provide (with metal spikes), it’s pretty easy to walk on the glacier, but I wouldn’t do it without a guide, given the deep crevasses and changing ice conditions throughout the day. The combination of the deep blue of the glacial ice, the clear ice that has begun to thaw, the white ice full of air bubbles, and the gray of rock fragments from landslides onto the glacier, it’s much more colorful on the glacier than you’d expect.

It started to rain as we climbed down from the glacier, turning into a hard rain as we hiked down, and a downpour just before we reached the busses back down to town. We were absolutely soaked when we got back to the B&B, but were thrilled to find Peter drawing a bath, clean clothes that Lucinda had laundered for us, and warm beds that we crashed into early.

Day 29: Franz Josef Glacier

We checked out the famous Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki this morning, which are certainly unusual. They’re apparently formed by alternating layers of sandstone and sea creatures, which then erode at different rates over time, leaving rocks that look like stacks of pancakes (pictures worth thousands of words). We then headed down to Franz Josef Glacier, stopping only when forced to by the occasional stock drive.

We hiked up to the base of Franz Josef Glacier, through the valley it has carved out over the last 18,000 years. It’s left behind a vast field of boulders and smaller rocks, broken down by the pressure of the glacier. Most of the trail was still covered 250 years ago apparently, so nothing has had a chance to re-grow, but given that there is rain forest on either side of the valley, you get the feeling that it won’t take long, assuming the glacier doesn’t advance all the way down the valley again (it is growing though, a few meters a year). Unfortunately I forgot to charge the camera battery last night, so no pictures, but we’ll get some tomorrow at Fox Glacier.

We stayed at the very nice Clearwater B&B last night, which is close to Fox Glacier. The owners, Peter and Lucinda, are very friendly, and it was nice to be back in a home again. We chatted with them for quite a while and enjoyed their company; they, like all the Kiwis we’ve met, are very friendly and nice. In addition to the B&B, they also have 800 head of cattle, some sheep, 3 goats, 2 dogs, and 5 peacocks! Oh yes, and 2 kids – it’s a busy household!