Glacier Country

We had a brilliant couple of days in Franz Josef and Fox, two tiny isolated villages famous for their enormous glaciers. We took the easy option at Franz Josef and just walked up to a viewing point where you get a decent view of the glacier. It's a really impressive sight and even more amazing when you realise you can really only see a small section of the ice.

That afternoon we experienced the full force of the West Coast weather with hours and hours of heavy rain so we escaped to the lovely Glacier Hot Pools. Unlike lots of similar places we visited in Central America, the water here isn't naturally heated, but it is real glacial water, so that was a first. It's also a lot swankier than any others we've been to and surrounded by rainforest so has a really nice atmosphere.

The next day the sun came out and we had perfect weather to get out onto the ice! This time we went to Fox Glacier, just down the road.

You're not allowed to go on the glacier without a guide unless you're experienced alpine mountaineers, (which we're definitely not!), so here's out guide, Cole. He looks the part, don't you think?!

 There was quite a hike to get onto the ice, including 700 steps and some risky sections where there are frequent rock falls. We stopped at a fresh water spring for a refreshing drink.

 

Once we got onto the glacier we were given an alpenstock (a big stick with a spike on the end) and crampons. We fitted these over the very retro boots that they had lent us and were told to tuck our trousers into our socks so we didn't catch them on the crampons. I felt like an old fashioned mountaineer along the lines of Kiwi hero Sir Edmund Hillary and felt ready to tackle the glacier!

 

The ice was a lot more grey than I had expected but it was still incredibly beautiful how it has formed into all sorts of peaks and cravasses. Where you can see into the glacier, it's a vivid blue colour.

This is my favourite photo because Cole let me pose with his ice axe!

On average, the Fox Glacier flows at over 1 metre a day and can get up to a speed of 5m a day, which is about 10 times faster than the European Alpine glaciers.



I really loved the whole experience and it's definitely one of the best things we've done so far.

Amazingly, after several hours hiking on and around the glacier, we found enough energy to almost run to the end of Lake Matheson. It has a very reflective surface and is famous for its evening views of Mount Tasman and, the highest peak in NZ, Mount Cook. We managed to get there just in time before the sun went down and got this lovely shot.

Rachel x