Grey Glaciers

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  Greymouth, South Island, New Zealand
Wednesday, September 17, 2008

We were awakened by the sound of rain pounding on the motel room window. Get the picture? Our luck with weather has run out. We head to a recommended place for breakfast near Lake Matheson to eat and wait out the rain. After about an hour, two women that we had seen at Bungy and again at a waterfall walked in: Anne-Christine von Wetter, a Parisian real estate person from Los Angeles and Nancy Tompkins, co-owner of the sailboat Flashgirl and spouse of Warwick Tompkins, Jr. (google him).
Anyway, we talked for another hour or more waiting for the rain to stop sharing stories of our lives, families and trips to New Zealand. When the rain stopped, we went for an hour and a half walk around Lake Matherson hoping for a photo opportunity that never came. In the car, we were off for the glaciers for which this district of rain forest along the Tasman Sea is known.
First, to Fox Glacier. It was raining only slightly. The thing about glaciers is that you can't capture their enormity in a photograph, particularly on a grey day. We hiked in beyond the safety boundary (as did everyone else and) after crossing a rocky stream, got close enough to tell that they weren't lying: it is sluffing off front layers. The ice is a deep blue, but again, you can't really tell that in a picture.
Then, we drove north to Franz Josef Glacier but the rain was even more intense. We opted for lunch and, as the sun peaked through, headed back to the glacier. The mist broke for about ten minutes after we hiked about twenty minutes into the observation point. Franz Josef is even more enormous than Fox. It took a moment to notice but the tiny specs on the glacier were not rocks because they were moving. There were people out there hiking on the glacier. Not for us.
Back in the car, we headed north hoping for better weather. Highway 6 runs along the west coast of the South Island and as it jutted inland and coastward, we caught glimpses of the Tasman Sea portion of the Pacific Ocean and more and more mountains.
As sunset neared, we approached Greymouth and decided that was far enough for the day. We snapped a sunset picture, found a motel, grabbed some crackers to eat with the wine and cheese we already have and called it a night.
Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be, as they call it here, "Nice." We're hoping.

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Fox Glacier from a distance	Getting there is a challenge	Franz Josef from a distance	Look closely for the hikers
Days end on the Tasman Sea

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