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Day 15.
The sand flies were driving us so mad in the morning that we jumped straight into the front of the car and hit the road, without washing or brushing our teeth. The air rushing in through the windows was our only defence against these winged pests now that our mosquito nuke had ran out.
The rest of Haast Pass was as amazing as the start. The road passes through mountainous valleys with spectacular waterfalls until descending into a region of rainforest separating the coastline from New Zealand's tallest mountains.
There are a few 'towns' along the route for you to fill up on petrol. These were all once gold mining towns but we wouldn't advise staying too long there unless you're an appreciator of the banjo.
It was pretty cloudy when we arrived in Fox Glacier town so we couldn't see much on the mountain. We picked up a few leaflets and decided to book onto a glacier trek for the following day before heading on down to our campsite on Gillespies Beach.
Whilst in the booking office, we bumped into an English couple we met at the DOC site in Te Anau (the ones that lent us The Lord of The Rings). They were just about to head off on their glacier trek and were staying in the same campsite as us.
Some of these DOC sites may be cheap or even free, but the drive out of town to get to them (especially this one) can seem to go on forever. After at least half an hour of winding gravel track we arrived at the site and set up camp.
It was still relatively early so we left our still-damp washing to dry in the afternoon sun and went for one of the popular walks down the coast.
On the way, we stopped at the site of an old gold dredge which had closed in the 1940s but there were still the remnants of the old machinery and even a huge pile of gold!... (I wish).
Day 16.
It was an early start that morning due to the enormous journey back along the gravel track to get into town in time to check in for our glacier trek. No wonder it took Frodo and Sam so long if they were only walking.
We had a quick briefing about safety and what to do if we saw a yeti then donned the equipment we would need to climb the glacier. Pip was allowed to keep her own walking boots whereas I had to trade mine in for a couple of lead weights that were probably as old as the mountain itself. This was only so that we were able to attach crampons securely though so it's a small price to pay to have deadly spikes attached to your feet.
A short bus trip later and we were off up the mountain. Our Icelandic guide seemed to know her stuff about glaciers as she has the same job back on the slightly bigger glaciers in Iceland during their summer months.
She was full of useful information about the glaciers, how they form, what they do and the local history of this one in particular. At the end of a no-stopping zone, she pointed out a boulder named 'The Peanut'. This rock, seemingly small from a distance (hence peanut) was actually the size of a three-story building, which put into perspective just how large the glacier was.
Getting onto the glacier was easy, at least compared to the route that would have to have been taken a few months previously. High above the glacier surface on the mountainside was a wooden staircase which was used to get onto the glacier when it was much thicker. That was another thing we never even knew: glaciers change in thickness as well as length regularly. Fox Glacier has been retreating rapidly over the past three years (about 3m per year). Back in 1983 it was much smaller than it is now and glaciologists were predicting its extinction before it surged on until 2008 just to prove them wrong.
The crampons made light work of the ice walking and the poles we were given were great for pictures and poking in ice holes. The guides had cut steps into the ice with pick axes where any steep climbing was involved.
We came across many hollows in the ice where swirling water makes its way down to the bottom of the glacier. These were called 'moulins' (think that's spelt correctly). We were also shown the ice falls further up the glacier. Ice fall climbing is a popular sport for nutcases but apparently Fox's falls are impassible as they are too steep. The villagers are currently awaiting the return of a bloke who tried to climb them in the 1930s, due to thaw out at any moment. Also on their way through the ice is a plane, an oven and a few cameras.
What's eighty years old and still fresh? Answer: Fox Glacier ice, which we sampled and approved before dismounting the glacier.
Eager to make sure we had picked the right glacier to walk up, we headed on to Franz Josef to compare. The glacier looked a long way from the car park so once we'd snapped its picture, we jumped back in the car and went to find somewhere to stay.
The town had a Space Station, a place affiliated with the Spaceships company where we got discounted accommodation and a much needed hot shower.
Day 17.
Drove... a lot!
We had to take out a small mortgage to pay for petrol in Franz Josef. The petrol station employee assured me that prices were so much higher here due to the in inaccessibility of the location... sure.
Arthur's Pass links the west coast to the east and the busy city of Christchurch. It is apparently beautiful though the weather had turned on us once again and it was hard to be impressed in the relentless drizzle.
We were told off for feeding the Keas bread at a stop along the route. Keas are an alpine parrot as cheeky and inquisitive as they come and will pretty much eat anything, in fact we passed some dining on cafe leftovers shortly after having our wrists slapped. Perhaps the bread we were using wasn't up to their usual standard...
We passed through the town of Springfield, a busy ski season base but rather deserted in the summer. Farther along, the weather picked up and we noticed some impressive rocks at a place called Castle Hill. We stopped to take a quick walk up to examine them and ended up taking some nice pictures. The rocks are enormous pieces of limestone weathered by acidity in the rain and the wind. The result is some gigantic oddly shaped hilltop boulders which seem very Lord-of-the-Rings-esque.
Our stop for the night was a hillside DOC site on the outskirts of Christchurch. By this time we had acquired another means of sandfly repellant, this time a natural concoction of citronella and other herbal ingredients. Turns out smelling like a giant lemon is quite appealing to insects rather larger than the sandfly and we were regularly chased around the field by bees. Give me the chemicals any day!
The sunset that evening was beautiful with an unbelievable spectrum of colours and we were exhausted from all the driving so it didn't take us long to drift off in our lemon scented camper.
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