Month: April 2008

After a full day of ice hiking yesterday, it seemed only fair to take it easy for the Fox Glacier (no, not the mint variety). So, it was off to the helipad to get a lift halfway up the glacier to where the ice is smooth (helps the helicopter land!). The Fox Glacier is a couple of kilometres bigger than the Franz Josef, and flows between the peaks of Mount Tasman and Mount Cook, the two tallest New Zealand mountains, and starts from a neve that gets 45 metres of snow a year (yes, forty five!), and luckily for us, not a drop whilst we were there, the weather gods have been shining on us! Both the glaciers move at a couple of metres a day, not that you can really see it.
From where the helicopter landed we could see a huge ice fall, making the glacier really like a frozen river. The ice was even clearer and bluer than yesterday, and although solid it was so clear that it looked like thin ice on water and could break at any time. Jeff the guide meandered his way across the ice and found us caves to climb through and up, getting only slightly muddy in the process, as well as freezing ourselves onto the glacier. Before long it was time to climb back in the chopper, in what is the first time we’ve used helicopters as a means of getting somewhere instead of scenic flights, cool! Well, that’s the last glacier blog for a while, I think wearing the same woolly socks for two days straight is pushing it!

Well, the title gives it away a little, Franz Josef is actually a rather large glacier, and today we had the pleasure of climbing a fair way up it! With all the thermal layers we could muster, and a double helping of woolly socks we walked to the base of the glacier and strapped on our crampons (big metal boot spikes), tucked our trousers into socks mountaineer style and set off up the steep face of the glacier, stamping our feet to get a good grip as we went. To begin with we were on the dirty grey foot of the glacier, but before long we were up in pristine blue ice, with our guide Bruce cutting steps as we went up and down and across crevasses. All around us the ice was melting and forming streams, although standing on 80 metres of ice means it’ll take a while to melt through! Eight fun filled hours later we were back at the bottom, exhausted and with a two mile walk back to the bus. I think the chicken nuggets for tea were well deserved!

Leaving Hokitika this morning we were immediately hit with a stunning view over the massive snow-capped Southern Alps, mountains that look old and rough, but are actually quite new. It seemed that every stop we made on the way down offered something new and amazing to look at, whether it was mountain views, mirror-smooth lakes, or odd turquoise rivers.
By lunch we’d made it to Franz Josef, and booked ourselves in for a couple of tours over the next two days, which will be unlike anything we’ve done before. I’ll not spoil the surprise, you’ll just have to see if we have enough energy tomorrow to write about it!

No! It’s supersimon! Adventurous activity for the day (as it’s New Zealand, you have to do at least one a day!) was the superman ride at New Zealand’s longest swing bridge. They strap you into a harness and let you run (or tentatively walk) off a platform to glide across the gorge over the river, past the precariously positioned photographer (thanks Cat!) to the other side The idea was to hold a superman pose all the way, but that felt a bit silly, so it turned into a plane ride pose, and of course that doesn’t look daft! There was also some gold panning, but that was about as successful as last time we tried, and the sand flies nearby were biting as though they hadn’t seen flesh for a few days. Another country, another breed of biting insect!
The drive on to the coast was spectacular, the road hugging the deep, churning Buller river and reverting to single track as it cut into cliffs. Camp for the night was next to the sea in Charleston, our first free campsite, complete with long drop toilet, the things we’ll do to save £10!

Our day of kayaking started with a cold morning, making us put on layers of thermals that only needed removing after our briefing as the morning sun got warmer. The kayaks were quite fancy, with compartments, waterproof skirts to keep our legs dry and rudders to steer. Our guide Tom took us across the bay to Abel Tasman National Park with it’s tree lined valleys that drop all the way to the sea. Kayaking really does give you a unique perspective, up close to the shore and going at quite a pace to fit it all in. Morning tea and lunch were provided, one of the best reasons to go on a guided tour in my book, but we were left to walk ourselves down the coast to the waiting water taxi ride home. Whilst waiting for the taxi, there were loads of sand flies that not only hurt when they bite, they also leave your bite bleeding, and they’re smaller than mozzies too!
With all that rowing and walking we deserved that cuppa at the end, and it does mean we’ve done a fair bit of Abel Tasman, so time to move on tomorrow!

The little city of Nelson doesn’t look as though it will detain you for long, but it does have a few things of interest. First off, there’s the Lord of the Rings jeweller, that had replicas of the actual ring, including a 6 incher used for the opening scenes. Then there’s the weird cathedral spire, grey and hollow, looking a bit like it’s made from scaffolding. Finally, there’s the geographical centre of NZ, inconveniently at the top of a huge steep hill. At least it got our blood flowing and our cheeks flushing!

Andrenalin pumping, we drove to the airfield of the Picton skydivers. A flight was just about to leave with one place on it, and as the plane only took two anyway, Cat volunteered herself to go. In no time she’d donned a jump suit and comical hat and had boarded the little Cessna. As we waited for the little parachute to appear above us, the sun beat down and it was generally a gorgeous day. Cat gently touched down and told of the freezing air as she left the plane, but amazing views over the Marlborough sounds. We were all psyched and ready to go, but the wind had other ideas, changing direction and making a safe landing unlikely, our jump was put on hold. Two hours later we gave up, New Zealand has more tandem sky dives than anywhere else, so I’m sure there’ll be more chances.
To compensate, we detoured on our drive to Nelson and visited Happy Valley Adventure park and their Skywire, essentially a gondola ride with no brakes Great fun, but not quite on a par with a skydive!

Time is surely flying by, with our goodbyes said to Mum they were steaming off on the ferry to Wellington to complete their tour of the North Island before heading home, makes you realise how short holidays normally are! It was great seeing Mum and Ian and sharing some of our holiday with them, we do appreciate the effort when they or Dad have come to visit!
With the glorious day ahead of us we drove the windy road back to the campsite, stopping at every other corner to photograph the Queen Charlotte Sound, and for me to scare Caz and Cat each time I parked near the cliff edge. We took a walk along the Queen Charlotte track, a 3+ day hike through forests with views over the sounds, we managed about an hours walk before dipping our toes and heading back, well the best views are meant to be at this end, so that’ll do for us!