Misty Peaks Fox Glacier

... Fox Glacier is about 13km long and starts around 2500m high. It is unusual (for a glacier) in that it ends in a temperate rainforest (which we had to climb and descend through) &#8211; only a few hundred metres from sea level.<br><br>We made our way back to the bus via the 800 or so steps (down this time) and headed back to Fox Glacier township to drop off our hiking gear and crampons abut 18:30.<br><br>Following the hike, I headed out to Lake Matheson &#8211; renowned for its ...

... on the beach. I couldn&#8217;t believe it -they were covered in tourists &#8211; yeuch - not what I am used to at all. <br><br>The drive along Highway 83 followed the course of the Waitaki River which was the most unbelievable milky blue colour and as it had been dammed in several places with the mass of water behind the dams you get an even clearer view of the colour. The road then passed alongside Lakes Aviemore and Benmore &#8211; a very scenic drive but nothing ...

Once all the usual plavas were over with trying to get away on holidays&#8230;..you know finding people to feed the chookies, packing, driving to Perth, collecting Glen from the airport then the last minute retail therapy required so everything is just right, dinner with friends and a drop off at the airport, drink with another friend finally we boarded what would have to be the most uncomfortable red eye flight I have ever been on &#8230;which says something!!...NOTE TO ...

... br>By days end Gail had completed several trips down the main green run and I had carefully navigated 2 long blue (advanced) rated descents. I managed to record one of these on a long fast stretch with a small jump near the bottom. Later, I did the same on a spiral flute cut into the hillside drift which sent you round in a circular fashion then dipped through a short tunnel to emerge further down the slope. <br>It was a treat to be able to record the ...

... day hike on the Fox Glacier however, not Franz because we heard you got more bang for your buck there! <br><br><br>Fox<br><br>It is only a short drive from Franz Josef to the even smaller village of Fox, which in turn is famous for....yes that's right, the Fox Glacier! We our booked in to do a day hike of the glacier the following day at 9 am, so we find ourselves somewhere to stay the night, make a packed lunch and get an early night. By the way ...

... retreat. With this much movement of course, the glacier is constantly being pulled and pushed from all sides causing cracks, crevasses and tunnels to appear and grow.<br><br>We choose to go in the second fastest group of 4 but the pace is leisurely so we don't struggle at all and find walking on the ice relatively easy. Throughout our ascent we get to explore a few crevasses which involves walking through some very narrow ...

Heading on from Greymouth, we first drove to the tiny town of Franz Josef to check out the infamous glacier there. We had plans for the following day to climb Fox Glacier in the neighboring town, but Fox had limited accommodation (town of only 300 ppl) so we stayed in Franz Josef for the night. <br><br>It was close to 4 and almost dark by the time we made it to the trailhead for the Franz Josef glacier. It was an easy walk through the rainforest and across the valley ...

... by a snow landing with views of Mt Cook and then back over the Fox Glacier. Both are very impressive sights and certainly a highlight of our trip so far. <br><br> Back on dry land and we jumped back in the car ready for the 5-hour journey across Arthur's Pass and the Canterbury plains to Christchurch.

... haad breakfast and had a chat about our tight schedule and the activities we still wanted to do. We realised that spending a day waiting around would have a really bad effect on things so we decided to see if we could do an expensive helihike, where the helicopter takes you higher up the glacier than the other hikers get to go, its less effort as you don't need to hike to/from the glacier, plus you get to go in a helicopter!!! They had space on the ...

... of Mt Tasman and Mt Cook while we<br>feasted, then we got ready and headed out to the internet "centre", or<br>a room full of computers that take prepaid access codes, to post the<br>previous blog.<br>