After leaving the whooping town of Greymouth we headed towards Franz Josef where one of the two glaciers in NZ is located. My plan was to go hiking on the Franz but when we were in Nelson they stopped all walking tours on the glacier and were only doing the heli-hikes which were really expensive. They had to stop the walking tours because the bottom half of the glacier was collapsing on its self and it just wasn't safe to have people tromping around up there. I was going to try to get on the Fox glacier which is only a half hour drive from where we were staying but at first that meant me being stuck in the Fox township for 2 nights until the next magic bus came along. Luckily my great bus driver Cameron called a few people and he worked it out so that we could hike the Fox Glacier in the same day so we only had to stay the one night then continue on to Wanaka with him. So I booked it in!
When we arrived in Franz Josef I checked into our hostel then had to meet the shuttle driver that was taking myself and 3 other girls over to Fox for our half day hike. I thought the roads from Taupo to Waitomo were windy, they have nothing on the roads we took to Fox glacier. He dropped us off and told us he would come back around 5:30 to pick us up and take us back to Franz for the night. We went in paid for our walk and in a short time we went into the boot room and got geared up for our hike one of the worlds only temperate glaciers. We had to get special hiking boots and things called crampons that were spikes that dig into the ice so we don't fall on our asses. Then the guide said that if we needed a jacket or pants or anything else to go and get some from the counter, and if you weren't sure about the stuff you had just ask him and he would tell you if it was okay. So I had on a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, a t-shirt and I had the inside of my jacket to take with me. I asked him if my jacket would be fine and he asked if it was wind proof and water resistant (which it is) and then he asked where I was from and I said Canada. He said, “Oh, pfft. You'll be fine, it's not Canada cold up there!” So after getting all geared up we headed out to the bus that would take us to the actual glacier so we could begin our walk.
It was about a 10 min drive to the glacier and then we all piled out of the van to start the walk. The walk up to the glacier took up most of the time, and wasn't easy peasy that's for sure. Of course we stopped along the way and took pictures and lots of stuff like that. Once we got to the spot where we got on the glacier we had to strap on our crampons and follow the guide along the ice paths to the locations around the glacier where we would stop. It was very cool to be walking on an actual glacier and parts of it looked so blue and pure I wanted to fill up my water bottle. At one point our guide did chip off some ice for us to try and it was great! I had a great time tromping around on the glacier and having a look at the ice caves. The inside of the caves were so blue and smooth they were just beautiful! The hike was challenging at times but over all a pretty smooth going and really great! I was going to try and go hiking on both glaciers but I guess one will have to do for now, and it is another check mark on my ever shrinking list!
The list is coming along so well and I have checked off a total of 10 of the 40 things on the list and it is only about a month into my living here. I knew that I would check off a bunch while on this national pass with the Magic Bus, so I am stoked!
When we left in the morning on our way to Wanaka we stopped at Lake Matheson just outside of the Fox glacier township and our driver let us walk around the lake to the reflecting island. This was one of the most beautiful things I have seen while being here. This lake is so still and the water is like glass it reflects everything around it including the majestic views of Mt. Cook in the distance. Unfortunately there was a bit of cloud cover so we couldn't see all of the mountain but still, stunning! I couldn't believe how still and how much detail you saw in the lake it was just remarkable. I am so fortunate to be able to experience all of these stunning views!
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