Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The following morning we woke to…rain! We were going to do a walk up to a view point to see the Fox Glazier but decided not to as we would probably not see anything. Instead we decided to continue onto Franz Joseph as there was a bigger town there with 'rainy' activities. It was a good choice because after half an hour being in Franz Joseph the rain disappeared and the clouds cleared a tad.
We first popped into the tourist information and saw a display room on the glacier. We then started with a walk up a small hill where you got views of the Glazier, again very impressive and you could see more further up the glazier than yesterdays one. We then did another short walk to a still lake, left behind as the glacier retreated. After that we went to another spot and did another longer walk to another still lake which was much bigger and you had to walk through a rainforest to get to, which was cool seeing all the moss. After that we decided we still hadn't done enough so we headed to another spot and climbed another hill, larger then the first to get a spectacular view of the glacier and the sea. We waited at the top for a while for the clouds to clear a bit and the view to improve before heading back down then back into town. We stocked up on some more supplies and topped up on petrol then found a campsite for the night and spent the evening watching films on TV.
The next day (Monday 19th) we got up early, showered, ate breakfast then walked to the glazier tour office, as we had booked onto a full day hike on the glacier. We arrived and they made us fill out safety forms then, rushed us through with loads of other people to pick up waterproof over-trousers, warm socks, boots, crampons, bumbag, hat, gloves and coat. We were then all crammed on a bus, some people having to stand, there was around 60 of us. It was a short 5 minute ride and we arrived at the bottom of the glazier. After a 20 minute walk through the rainforest we arrived near the start of the ice and put on our crampons. We then split into 5 groups, our group having 12 in it then headed onto the ice.
It was an awesome experience involving following our guide who cut the path with a pick axe, curving steps and attaching rope to pull ourselves up and down steep hills, squeezing through cracks in the ice. Eating our lunch while sitting on the ice and having the guide tell us interesting facts, some of which are listed below:
1. "The town of Franz Joseph has a major fault line running through it."
2. "The petrol station in town was built right in the middle of the fault line, that's the one that's next door to where you got picked up from and where we are dropping you off at."
3. "We are now walking over an ice bridge, a river is flowing under us, over the next few years this is going to completely fall away."
4. "Look at that massive rock over there, that fell down last weekend, if we were there at the time we would have all been doomed."
5. "See that big hole in the ice over there, that's the way we used to walk up last week, we can't go that way anymore as its too dangerous."
6. "That area over there is were we were with a tour when a landslide happened, we all thought we were going to die, you can check it out on youtube."
7. "You guys are about to be a part of history soon as we have been told this trip is too dangerous to do anymore, so in 3 months we are only going to allow people to go up on a helicopter."
8. "The path we take down is different to the path up as the ice is changing so fast that our path up is probably no longer there."
9. "I was sitting on the ice a month ago next to a crack and actually watched as it opened up to about a meter wide, was awesome."
10. "We had a town meeting the other week, they explained to us how a massive earthquake bigger then the Christchurch one is guaranteed in the next 100 years. The percentage chance increases over the years so the chance of it in the next 10 years is 10%, in 20 years is 20% and so on until 100 years is 100%."
11. "In the town meeting the recommended us not to buy any land in the area, not to bring up children and generally not to make long term plans to stay in the area".
After the long exhausting day we all hobbled back to the bus and headed back into town to drop of all our gear. We then hobbled back to the campsite to grab a quick bit to eat then headed to the hot springs. We got in the 36 degree one and relaxed our leg muscles for a bit, then decided it wasn't hot enough so got in the 38 degree one. After a sort while we decided this wasn't hot enough so jumped in the 40 degree one. This was lovely but after turning all shrivelled we decided to cool down for a while in the 38 degree one again before hopping out and headed back to the van to collapse in bed.
- comments
Mum What a wonderful experience! Guess your guide had a great sense of humour!!!! lol