Atop the Fox Glacier

That’s the picture of our transportation – to the top of a mountain and glacier on Wednesday.  And this is where we were heading.

The Southern Alps contain over 3000 glaciers.  Two of the most famous (and accessible) of New Zealand’s glaciers are found right on the west coast.  In fact, these two glaciers start in the mountains and end just above sea level in the rainforest (what Kiwi’s call “the bush”).  Fox Glacier is 13 kilometers long and falls about 8500ft.  It moves at the rate of about 1 meter a day (so our guide tells us).  We were only on a few small section, but what an experience.

We were up early for check in, safety briefing, and getting outfitted (boots and warm socks).  The day was perfect and we were so lucky.  We were told by our guide (Andrew) that helicopter flights to the glacier only happens 4 of 10 days on average.  Flights had canceled at both the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers the previous two days in a row.  Our flight was delayed about 10 minutes as they were checking the weather just to be sure.

Here is K all ready to go in the front seat – she looks at home and ready to take command – scary thought isn’t it?  [Pilot's seat is actually to the right].

We were off – and what views we had of the surrounding mountains and the Fox Glacier.

On the Fox glacier, we were outfitted with crampons (spikes for the bottom of our boots - see below) and then we had a guided tour for 2 hours of “ice time.” 

I have experienced many things in my 50 years of life.  This will be an experience and memory images I will take to my grave.  There are some things you do in life that you know you will never forget – this was one for me.

I took so many pictures, and each one worthy a look, but I picked the best of the best.  Make sure you open the pictures in wide mode.  Many have people in them somewhere – very tiny – to give you a sense of the enormity of the glacier.

Look for the people in this one.  They are tiny but there.

And here comes our ride to take us home - with some shots on the descent down.

We were on the glacier a little more than two hours.  You may think it would be very very cold.  In fact, it was like a crisp autumn or spring day.  It was a little cool in the early morning when we landed, but by the time we were ready to leave the glacier, it was comfortable enough to be wearing just a sweatshirt.  When we landed, it was about 80 degrees in the valley.  The ice was very slippery – thus the need for the crampons.  The ice was blue in color with some gray shale from the mountain mixed in some places.

After returning from the glacier, K and I traveled down to the beach (about 12-15 kilometers from the glacier).  There are not too many places where glacier and ocean are that close.  We had to traverse through some of the thick bush to get to the beach.

From the beach, the view back up to the glaciers and mountains was amazing.

We then hiked through the bush to a small glacier lake (Lake Matheson - formed many years ago by the Fox) between the beach and the glacier.  One of the people in town told us to be on the other side of the lake as evening was setting for some wonderful reflections.  The lake servers as a giant reflecting mirror on clear and calm days.  The hike through the bush and around the lake was beautiful, but the coupe de gras was the reflecting view at the end.

Hold the picture upside-down if you can and it almost doesn’t change.

We wrapped up with a phenomenal diner at a restaurant just outside the lake park (Lake Matheson Cafe).  Here was our view for the evening – the dinner could have been horrible and we would not have not known or cared.

K also bought some art from the same place.  It will be a remembrance of our fabulous day.  All the reading we had done suggested that NZ was a country with some spectacular natural scenery.  No matter what you read or see in books and on the internet, nothing can prepare you for what we have seen.   We feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to travel here together.