Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Glaciers...
Well, we made it out to the terminal face of the Franz Josef glacier on Monday - and it was quite impressive. It spurred us all on to make adventurous plans for Tuesday. My friend Em and her boyfriend Ben booked an ice climb - which looked far too strenuous for little old me - and I booked myself onto the Heli Hike. We all had a fab day and got some great pictures.
For the heli hike, we were lifted up the glacier to about I guess three quarters of the way up the glacier. The views were amazing. We then tied on our talons and hiked for about 2 and a bit hours over the ice and through various ice formations - through some simple crevasses and holes and - the highlight for me - sliding on my arse (yes, it's getting another workout here) down and through an ice cave/tunnel. That was an amazing experience - I so wish I'd dropped my camera through to our guide, Shaun, who was waiting at the other end to take some pictures. There were a few hairy moments, like where the guide had walked safely over some loose snow only for me to follow and for my boot to end up in freezing water up to my ankle - and those boots weren't as waterproof as I'd have liked - (one unfortunate woman ended up going in up to her waist) and when Shaun was happily hacking his way ahead only to find that he'd hit a dead end! He hit two dead ends in a row at which point all confidence we'd built up with the snow talons moving over the ice had almost evaporated and I started to get a bit worried. Thankfully on his third try he hit paydirt and led us through to the cave/tunnel, so we carried on and had a whale of a time.
By the time we came down I could already feel that my thighs were slightly sore so I headed straight for the hot tub at the hostel - heaven. A young girl from Christchurch on her school holidays came in and joined me, and then 4 guys from Belgium came in. Twas rather cramped in there I must say. I really hoped it was gonna do the trick and loosen up my muscles but no, today (Wednesday) I've been really sore and really don't like to go up and down stairs.
We drove here to Fox Glacier this morning. I said goodbye to Em and Ben and checked into my hostel - the Ivory Towers - a slightly grand name for an average place. Still, I tried to head out to the terminal face of the glacier but didn't quite make it. The landscape is more rugged than at Franz Josef and we had to cross a new river that was gushing a bit and then a crack in the ground which looked a bit beyond the capability of my legs at the moment. I did get some impressive views though. Fox isn't as big as Franz Josef but it's still pretty spectacular.
I've made my plans for tomorrow which I'll write about next time so will be staying here for another night. Then hopefully I'll be heading to Wanaka on Friday and maybe catch some of the "Warbirds over Wanaka" airshow that is on this weekend. But since they're expecting upwards of 80,000 people to visit over the three days I'd better go and book my hostel bed and make sure I can stay there - if not, it'll be on to Queenstown.
Gotta go, internet time running out.
Suz xxx
For the heli hike, we were lifted up the glacier to about I guess three quarters of the way up the glacier. The views were amazing. We then tied on our talons and hiked for about 2 and a bit hours over the ice and through various ice formations - through some simple crevasses and holes and - the highlight for me - sliding on my arse (yes, it's getting another workout here) down and through an ice cave/tunnel. That was an amazing experience - I so wish I'd dropped my camera through to our guide, Shaun, who was waiting at the other end to take some pictures. There were a few hairy moments, like where the guide had walked safely over some loose snow only for me to follow and for my boot to end up in freezing water up to my ankle - and those boots weren't as waterproof as I'd have liked - (one unfortunate woman ended up going in up to her waist) and when Shaun was happily hacking his way ahead only to find that he'd hit a dead end! He hit two dead ends in a row at which point all confidence we'd built up with the snow talons moving over the ice had almost evaporated and I started to get a bit worried. Thankfully on his third try he hit paydirt and led us through to the cave/tunnel, so we carried on and had a whale of a time.
By the time we came down I could already feel that my thighs were slightly sore so I headed straight for the hot tub at the hostel - heaven. A young girl from Christchurch on her school holidays came in and joined me, and then 4 guys from Belgium came in. Twas rather cramped in there I must say. I really hoped it was gonna do the trick and loosen up my muscles but no, today (Wednesday) I've been really sore and really don't like to go up and down stairs.
We drove here to Fox Glacier this morning. I said goodbye to Em and Ben and checked into my hostel - the Ivory Towers - a slightly grand name for an average place. Still, I tried to head out to the terminal face of the glacier but didn't quite make it. The landscape is more rugged than at Franz Josef and we had to cross a new river that was gushing a bit and then a crack in the ground which looked a bit beyond the capability of my legs at the moment. I did get some impressive views though. Fox isn't as big as Franz Josef but it's still pretty spectacular.
I've made my plans for tomorrow which I'll write about next time so will be staying here for another night. Then hopefully I'll be heading to Wanaka on Friday and maybe catch some of the "Warbirds over Wanaka" airshow that is on this weekend. But since they're expecting upwards of 80,000 people to visit over the three days I'd better go and book my hostel bed and make sure I can stay there - if not, it'll be on to Queenstown.
Gotta go, internet time running out.
Suz xxx
# posted by Sue Lambert @ 11:57 PM 
