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Unfortunately the weather turned on us over night, and the rain came down heavier than anything I have ever experienced in England, and it lasted for 12 hours. However, when we awoke, all the water had some how gone, I have no idea where but we should have been floating away. We had wanted to do an all day hike but due to the weather we decided to wait until lunch, as it was very misty and still raining softly. Luckily, by lunch it had cleared and the sun was threatening to come out.
We had decided to do a hike on the Fox Glacier, which is the larger of the two glaciers on the West Coast. We collected our gear - a jacket, and some crampons so we wouldn't fall over on the ice, very essential!! We had a guide called Steve, and he looked identical to my high school geography teacher, which was very surreal. It was like being on a geography field trip again. I loved it!!
We headed out along the valley, running along side the glacier, making our way up past the terminal end, which is very dangerous to be around. There are often large chunks of ice breaking off and the noise this creates is something else - seriously loud. It really makes you appreciate the power and size of this river of ice. The 2 glaciers on the West Coast are in one of two areas on the planet where temperate vegetation grows higher than the base of the glacier. It is very unusual. We were walking in a forest high above the glacier. Eventually, after about an hour, we came to a place where we could walk out across onto the glacier and it was time to put on our crampons. We then spent the next hour and a half walking in this ice wonderland, through ice tunnels, seeing deep holes that drop down 200 meters and seeing incredible shapes that the ice has carved out through shear weight and power. It was quite an experience, something I will never forget. The photos do not really do it justice in the slightest.
The walk back was easier and by the time we got back we were absolutely exhausted. This was partly due to the lack of sleep the previous night. We tried to drive to our next point, but after an hour the guys in the back were asleep and I could hardly keep my eyes open. It was also a bad hour for the possum population. Out of nowhere, I ran over one. It was caught in my headlights and bang bang it was dead. It was massive and it made the entire van jump. I later read that there are more possums in New Zealand than sheep and man put together - approx. 70 million of them and the government actually encourages road kill by setting up traps so tourists actually hit them. Anyway, ten minutes later I hit another one. Brennan took over the driving for the last half hour and bang bang, he also hit one. Three kills in twenty minutes!! I feel we are doing our part to help the possum epidemic that is sweeping across the country.
We stopped in a random picnic site in the middle of nowhere and went to bed before 9pm - pretty crazy!!
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