Somehow we got lost right away after we left christchurch. But if we hadn't we never would have encountered this along a back road:
We did did some short tramps along the way, passing over Arthur's Pass, then descended to the Tasman Sea, where we camped the first night at Gillespie's Beach. Beautiful sunset and birds and even a lost seal:
There are over 3000 glaciers in new zealand, but only 2 of them are easily accessed with a guided tour. We just visited the base of Franz Joseph Glacier:
And Fox Glacier the next day. Fox is one of only 1% of glaciers in the world that is actually growing (due to 20-30 meters of snow annually in the mountains, and australia overheating). Because it was a rare day without rain, we opted to take the full day guided tour onto the glacier.
It is very rare that glaciers form so close to sea level and are surrounded by jungle. We had to climb 800 stairs in the jungle to get to the access point to get on the glacier. After 250 stairs, camille fills her water bottle from a waterfall:
View of Fox glacier from the jungle. It's 13 kilometers long - you can see it disappearing into the distance:
Notice the little strings of tourists like ants. There seemed to be a lot of people at the access point, but after we got on the glacier we didn't see any other groups (ours had 12 people and 1 guide)
Ready to start climbing onto the ice! Equipped with crampons for our boots and an alpinestick (a stick with a spike in the end for not slipping on the ice)
Our first ice cave! But that's about as far in as we could fit.
Here's a bigger ice cave which our guide has just discovered. The ice changes very quickly, traveling at 2 meters a day. So always new places to explore. I was the first volunteer to go inside this cave:
Here's a video I took inside the cave. Because I'm thin and a little crazy I got quite far inside. From inside little drips boomed loudly, as you can see - another world!
We marched higher up the ice field until we couldn't tell where the path would lead next. Often our guide had to stop and use his ax to carve us steps into the ice.
Me:
Camille:
The highest point accessable to non ice climbers without a helicopter. And finally it rained. But only for 30 minutes. We were very lucky with the weather overall:
The next night we camped in Hokatika next to a small farm. We discovered the ugliest pig we'd ever seen! Not only was it nearly impossible to tell his front end from his rear, but he had a "tassle" hanging from his cheek. The farmer said it's a Kunekune.
Eww!
Driving home - through Lord of The Ring scenery:
But I got sleepy (it's a 6 hour drive) and made us stop at an old gold mining town for some high-stepping fun:
Back in christchurch my mother shows camille what's new in her garden:
Meanwhile I frolic with all 3 of my siblings for the first time in over a year:
Stay posted for another update later in the week! Thanks for reading, bloggie-fans!
1 comment:
hi there.
I love your new picture story style. It reminds me of reading a rebus. You know those stories that have a black -line drawing of a chicken instead of the word?
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