Fox on the Run!

Looking forward to another day on the glacier - today we had booked onto a 6 hour hike ....and the weather looked fabulous as the morning dawned.
We arrived at the office to find that we had accidentally booked onto the walk a month earlier than we planned. The office, to their credit, did their best to try and accommodate us, but all trips were fully booked except the2 hour terminal face glacier hike that afternoon.
We accepted that booking and thought that exploring the glacier from the terminal face would be an alternative perspective.
So........we joined a busload of 35 others for the 2 hour hike.
It was an interesting 45 minute walk up the valley to the terminal face, looking at how far the glacier has advanced and retreated over the past 30 years, with global warming and El Nino /La Nina weather patterns providing topical discussion and debate for the reasons for and against.
Again we chose the better of the two guides on offer today, a French-Canadian girl who took the time to take photos for all of the group.
We spent a total of 2 hours on the glacier but much of this was spent waiting for people to have photos taken or regrouping with several very slow participants. It was a little disappointing, but still leaves us with another opportunity to return another time with some unfinished business.....

 

Ice Ice Baby!

Rain overnight and low cloud this morning.
Hoping that we will not have our glacier hike cancelled.
Fox Guides not overly confident about trip going ahead - touch and go..... told we would catch the shuttle bus out to helipad, go through safety briefing and then helicopter pilots will decide whether safe to proceed at last minute. As I was one of the lightest and smallest members of the 15 strong group, I was allocated a front seat right next to the pilot. Word came through - Thunderbirds are Go!!!
Brilliant views out of the front of the copter, heading up the valley and through a bank of low cloud, and then finding ourselves in brilliant sunshine at the top of the glacier. We circled around and descended about halfway down the glacier where we landed.

Taking care to disembark, we put on our crampons while we waited for the other two helicopters to land with the remainder of the group members. There were two guides assigned to the group. We chose to hike with Jess, a local from Invercargill and we chose well! She was very proficient on the ice with excellent ice pick skills and even using ropes to get us into otherwise almost inaccessible crevasses. The pictures speak for themselves -an amazing experience. Breathtaking......

We were on the glacier for about 25 min longer than expected as the helicopters were having trouble getting up to the drop-off/pick-up zone with the weather closing in. More time for photos and to take a closer look at the "emergency ration barrels" which,we had been assured, had only be used twice in 28 years. (A stockpile of tents, sleeping bags, soups and medicinal brandy!)

The helicopters did take advantage of a brief break in the weather and transported us away from the icy, magical winter wonderland and delivered us back home safely. 

The views to the coast from the helicopter then tempted us to take the 21km drive down to Gillespies Beach to take in a possible view of Mt Cook. The drive was slow along a gravelly winding road and was not unlike the other beaches we had already stopped at the day before. Still we did catch  a couple of glimpses of Mt Cook  before it was shrouded by cloud cover. 

Along the road back, there was a turnoff to Lake Matheson and we decided to spend the remainder of the afternoon walking around the lake, finishing the day with a wonderful dinner at the onsite cafe

A spectacular day's sightseeing - one of the best for this trip!!!

The long and winding road

We begin our road trip to the West Coast today
Swapped the hiking clothes with more comfortable traveling clothes (wearing a skirt today may have been a mistake- read on further )
Picked up the rental car  and we were off.

Is this the rental vehicle???

Chose the alternate route to Wanaka on the Crown Range road via Cardrona which reminded us of the Peruvian mountain roads - narrow, twisting and turning  but rewarded with spectacular views of the Remarkables and the Crown range

We drove straight through Wanaka with its hoards of tourists milling around the lakeside cafes and shops. Looks like a nice town to explore, another time
We did have a stop to enjoy the lookout over Lake Hawea which is separated from Lake Wanaka by a narrow isthmus - and yes it was cerulean!

The drive from there to Haast via Makarora had spectacular mountain vistas including a great view of Mt Aspiring. This area definitely needs more exploring....
It was a slow drive, accounting for the winding roads, very windy weather and roadworks around Haast Pass where there had been a considerable landslide
Followed the Haast River into Haast Village - a "blink and you'll miss it" settlement. Scrounged a coffee and sandwich for lunch with slim pickings on offer
At least we had now reached the West Coast. I was keen to venture down to Jackson Bay but time did not permit, so we headed north. The scenery was amazing- the Tasman Sea and the coastal scrub on one side of the road - rainforest on the other with distant glimpses of the Southern Alps.
We stopped at a couple of lookouts along the way. Even though it was gray and overcast with occasional drizzle, it was not too cold. We passed several lakes and trail heads - more beautiful spots to enjoy. There is just too much to see and do in NZ!!!! Note to self: Lake Moeraki and The Copland Track

The beaches were covered with smooth weathered river pebbles washed down by the numerous creeks and rivers from the Alps. At Bruce Bay , the beach had a collection of what I would call Story Stones - with messages written on them. Some tourists were impressed by this quirky form of artistic expression, others were appalled that the wilderness had been desecrated in this way. For me - well I didn't contribute to this body of work, (even though I wanted to, but alas no marker pen!), preferring to fossick and enjoy.

We arrived at Fox Glacier township late afternoon and checked into our modest cabin at the caravan park.
Lackluster dinner at the Hotel.... looking forward to getting on the ice tomorrow!