Ice World

Leaving Christchurch and facing the prospect of my first night alone for two months, I began the long drive to the Fox Glacier driving along the icy State Highway 73. Whilst being careful to drive at a safe speed, the prospect of an 8 hour journey was not one I was prepared to contemplate. The journey itself took just under 6 hours and near-death experiences were plentiful. Twice I skidded and took a while to get myself back in control - luckily there were no other cars in sight. On another ocassion, whilst taking a well deserved toilet break at Arthur's Pass, a massive Kea (native bird) landed on the bonnet of the car and started jumping up and down and pecking at the windscreen. The fourth, and weirdest of the experiences came when I stopped to help a bloke who's car had broken down. As I approached him, he turned to me and muttered something about the fact that I shouldn't get out the car to help as he might have been an axe murderer... Scary stuff. Anyhow, I continued on and made it to Fox where I checked into a hostel and began a hunt for food and alcohol. Struggling to find either, I finally stumbled across a quaint little establishment which fixed me a generous portion of fish and chips (the staple diet of religious travellers) and provided a highly spirited karaoke night thanks to the influx of 30 or so travelling Americans.

Awesome Waterfall

The next morning I got up early and put on as many clothes as I could ahead of the helihike. I drove down to the Fox Glacier offices where I was suited and booted and bundled into a minibus to take us to the helipad. The other occupants on the bus were Matt the Guide, and Dave and Tara, a father and daughter, the latter of whom I'd had the pleasure of meeting the night before... Apprehensive ahead of my first helicopter flight, I boarded carefully making sure I didn't do a 'Romano'. The flight was a little noisy, but remarkably smooth despite the ducking and diving to show us the best bits of the glacier and surrounding mountains, including Mt Cook, the tallest peak in New Zealand. The climb itself was remarkable: I've never seen anything like it, and probably never will again. It's hard to imagine what a glacier is like until you've been there but hopefully the photos will give you some idea. The scenery changes every day, and as our guide hadn't been to the area for a couple of weeks it was new to him too and we spent several hours exploring, looking for caves and tunnels through the ice. I'd have like to have investigated more, but due to time constraints the helicopter picked us up around lunchtime and soon after touching down I was back on the road to Christchurch, on a journey that was far less eventful than the previous one.

Emerging from an Ice Cave

Helicopter on its way to the Glacier

Onboard the Helicopter going up the Glacier