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!!!