Walking on Ice
Trip Start
Oct 28, 2008
1
52
107
Trip End
Jun 30, 2009
Fox Glacier, South Island, New Zealand
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Naked Bus is our transport for NZ - no actual nudity here - just cheap fares. They are a great company that subcontracts to regional minibus companies. So they are naked in the sense that they don't actually own any buses themselves. We've been on two so far, both with such friendly and informative drivers that are proud of their country and keen to share it with tourists. They stop at local places of interest like a quirky cafe (on the way to Fox glacier) that sells things like"roadkill toastie" and "unborn chicken with compressed pig roll" - the latter more commonly known as egg and bacon roll. They display a few anti-veggie jokes like " Vegetarian is the Indian word for piss poor hunter" and "I haven't climbed to the top of the food-chain to become a vegetarian".
The day we had booked to do the one day glacier hike it chucked it down - non-stop. Stalking around the hostel in thermals, and every other piece of clothing we have been schlepping around, our glacial aspirations melt away....for the day. A license to do nothing - so we watch a "Hot Fuzz" in the little cinema room they have fashioned out of old furniture, beanbags and some redundant old cinema seats.
-hen just as the day is drawing to a close the sun makes an appearance. We run out to catch a shuttle taxi down to the beautiful moody Lake Matheson. It's only 6Ks away and it's an easy 1.5 hours to walk around it through what feels like the enchanted woods. The sound of mini waterfalls fills the air. Moss covers the trees like a blanket and ferns sprout up all around. We are half expecting to meet an elf sitting on a toadstool. The forest gives way to glimpses of the lake and viewing platforms. Most notable is "Reflection Island" where you can see the reflection of the mountains, sky, and trees in the lake. Conditions weren't quite right to allow us to take the Photographer-of-the-Year photo but nonetheless very beautiful. We are so captured by it that we return once more to see it in the morning of our third day enjoying a delicious steak sandwich in the cafe - a beautiful Nordic-type wooden building with glass walls. The countryside here is something else with the ever changing light and weather .
Time to get the boots on, strap on the crampons and take to the ice. Neither of us had taken in how dynamic glaciers can be. Fox is in the 1 % of the world's glaciers that is advancing. It looks like a frozen river between steep mountains. Two people have come to their death this year and only a couple of days before our trek a group nearly had it when there was sudden movement and massive chunks of ice broke off - some pieces apparently the size of double-decker buses. We still see the remnants of these ice blocks on the river bed along with massive rocks from the landslip (also very active we are told). Stu is our enthusiastic guide armed with backpack and a pic axe (for cutting steps into the super hard and compact ice). We first walk up some 800 steps and up a track along the cliff's edge before we get on the ice. The crampons are great and really give you good grip if you stomp about with decided force. There are some ice steps (which need cutting in everyday) as the melt in parts of the glacier is up to 1 meter a day. The ice scape is very hilly - in the distance more vertical formations are formed from the build up of pressure. The ice is a bit dirty looking as it interacts with the land around. The surface looks white with shades of blue underneath formed by the trapped air bubbles and refraction of the light. The highlight is an ice-tunnel which started its life out as a hole in Dec. of last year. We descend into a cravass just wide enough for one person at a time. It's like being in a fridge with vertical walls either side. Once inside melting water runs down off the walls and and sides. The light shining in makes for a beautiful sight - turquoise, blue, green colours mixed in with golden light. We are very lucky to see this formation - timing and the skill of the guide to get us down there. They bore holes in the ice and attach metal hooks and a rope to hold onto. How amazing to experience yet another compeletely different type of scenery.
In case you are wondering "Fox Glaicer Mints" weren't actually named after this place - just the company Fox making sweets and presumably free assocation to the word "glacier".
