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Fox & Franz Joseph Glaciers to Otira - Day 271
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After yesterday's wash out, the weather this morning is fine and sunny, a perfect day to take a look at some glaciers. I only had a 45km drive this morning to Fox glacier self-named by the late 19th century Kiwi prime minister. I was the first person to arrive this morning so I had the place to myself for around an hour before the big tour buses pulled up. Was only a short walk from the car park to the terminal wall of this huge glacier. Watched the sun rise from behind this big dirty lump of ice. I got close and personal with the glacier, I walked all the way to front of the ice wall which is a mix of ice, rock and finely grounded pebbles. Certainly an impressive sight up close towering above the valley floor. I returned to the car to cook some breakfast and headed back to the glacier to take some better photos. Earlier it was difficult to take any decent pictures due to the sun's glare as it rose from behind the ice, so I headed back for a second look. After leaving Fox glacier I visited the small town of the same name which seems completely dedicated to arranging scenic flights to the glaciers and Mount Cook. OK, I jumped out of a plane a couple of days ago, which was a first for me and I've never been in a helicopter. A perfect opportunity to tick another box on this beautifully sunny day. I booked a 30 minute flight over Fox glacier and around Mount Cook with a 10 minute landing where we jump out of the chopper for a roam on the Murchison glacier, east of Cook. I had a couple of hours to burn before the flight so I relaxed in town, bought myself a pie and sat on a bench and enjoyed the warm morning sun.
Wow!! I now have a helicopter addiction!! What an awesome place for my first flight. The helicopter was a Hughes 500, I shared the flight with a chopper geek who said it's the Ferrari of the chopper world. Certainly a slick looking machine! The chopper was started and ready to go when the car dropped me in some random farmers field just a few minutes from town. I ran to the chopper with my head down just like in the movies, put my seat belt and headphones on and we we were off. After 5 minutes in the air we returned back to the field to pick up another 2 people who had arrived late. I thought sweet, I've just had a free 5 minutes in the air! I sat in the front next to the pilot with the controls right in front of me, what a cool machine. We took off for a second time and headed up the Fox glacier. I could see the deep crevasses from high above this river of ice. The dirty grey glacier I saw this morning at ground level had turned into a brilliant white and blue landscape as we flew higher towards the source. As we flew over a saddle we followed a high mountain ridge, we were only flying a couple of hundred feet from the pointy black rock. Then the ridge disappeared and a massive u-shaped valley lay beneath, which contained the huge Tasman glacier. Thousands of feet of open air appeared in a few seconds after leaving the ridge. This had to be my favourite moment of the entire flight. We then approached the Murchison glacier and landed on the ice and snow on a small plateau at over 7000 feet. We had perfect views of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman, the biggest peaks in New Zealand. Completely awesome! Had 10 minutes to enjoy the views from the glacier before heading back to town after a flyby of Mount Cook. I sat in the back of the chopper on the return which was nowhere near as exciting, but a took some good shots without the glare of the curved glass in the front. In many ways I enjoyed this indulgence more than my sky dive. The mountain scenery here is some of the best I've every seen, it's not massive like the Himalayas but equally as beautiful.
Next I drove to Franz Joseph Glacier. I was surprised to discover the glacier is actually advancing. In the
70's the ice could hardly be seen from the current lookouts along the
trail. Global warming doesn't appear to be affecting Franz Joseph.Walked up to the terminal wall which is around a 3km hike from the car park. Along the trail I stopped first at Sentinel Rock which offers great views of the glacier from an elevated position. This massive rock was once covered by the glacier and now sits a couple of kilometres from the terminal wall. As I approached the glacier there were warning signs everywhere saying don't go any further due to the unstable ice so I obviously carried on past the signs. Bits of glacier occasionally fall off and hit unwary tourists so I had to be alert. Up close, the glacier is an intimating beast, water pours from the bowels of the dirty ice with rocks and ice moving under the stresses and strains.
After leaving Franz I drove north along the coast to Hokitika before heading inland onto the Arthur's Pass road which connects the west coast to the east coast bypassing the high southern Alps. I've parked up tonight near the start of the Otira Gorge at 450 metres above sea level. The road eventually climbs to just short of 1000 metres where the highest settlement in New Zealand is located. Apparently some great 360 degree views of the southern Alps from the settlement and surrounding walking tracks. Will hopefully see for myself in the morning if the weather continues to be fine and clear. I'm not expecting the weather to hold though, remember I'm in soggy New Zealand, could snow tomorrow, who knows.
Where I stayed:
In my car somewhere
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| 192. | Fox & Franz Joseph Glaciers to Otira - Day 271 - Otira, New Zealand Nov 20, 2008 (  43 ) |
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