Day 28: Full bus from Franz to Wanaka

Monday 2nd January 

Bus to Wanaka via Fox Glacier, Dolphins, a reflective lake, and Blue Lagoon

Distance: bus, 278km

Total Distance: 4357km

We were all due to get up early for the bus. My dorm mates got up especially early, however, probably because of the very nice guy from Sheffield who has asthma couldn't stop snoring and none of us were really sleeping anyway.  Didn't matter, we had 4 hours on the bus to catch up on sleep.

There were more people for the bus than seats. Oops, someone in the office had mucked up. I was last on the list, but there were 4 who had been subsequently added. 3 crazy Australians and a German who's birthday it was. Well, we couldn't leave them behind! The German took the courier's seat at the front by the driver. One Ozzie sat next to him on the step coming down from the aisle. And at my feet, in the central aisle, the other two Ozzies found a comfortable place to lie down and sleep off their hang overs.

We drove out of Franz towards Fox Glacier. Our driver made a "wrong" turn, ending up on a gravel track between two farms, giving us all spectacular views on the Fox Glacier.

Returning to the correct route we got to a lake so flat it, on a good day, gives a perfect mirror image of the mountains beyond. The drizzle set in as we got there- not enough to ruin the day, just enough to make our reflections hazy. 

As we got further along the coast we passed a cove where two guys were enjoying the uneven weather with a spot of surfing. Someone noticed a couple of fins. We parked up. There in the waves were a family of dolphins. Hector's Dolphins, one of the world's rarest with only an estimated 175 left. We must have seen most of them! They were playing in the waves, or swimming as a group further out. We saw little but their tiny black dorsal fins, but enough to make the bus excited.

The Blue Lagoon is formed as melted glacier water runs down from the mountains and enters an old waterfall pool just before joining the river. The is now a bridge above the pool. A short walk took us down to where a large group of Germans and Brits were throwing themselves off the perfectly good swing bridge and into the freezing cold, refreshing, waters below. Our crazy Ozzies joined them, but even they said, whilst good to do once, not again. Not ever again.

The landscape changed dramatically as we passed over from the western Southern Alps to the eastern Southen Alps. We left Jurassic Park behind and finally emerged in Rohan of Middle-Earth, aka the Scottish Highlands on steroids. Gone were the rainforests produced by the rain coming off the Tasman Sea, replaced by scrubby grasslands of sheep, rocks, and lakes.

We made it to Wanaka, the town by Lake Wanaka. A beautiful place which advertises itself as "The World's First Protected Lifestyle Reserve"...which goes on to sound like a game reserve for the middle classes, or the village from Hot Fuzz. There's a few communities in New Zealand that feel, to me, like that's what they want- and you can't blame them. If I lived in some where this beautiful, with so few tourists, and especially with the raucous Queenstown next door, I'd want to keep it as it is.

Some how there were people I knew here from the Bay of Islands and other parts of my trip, so we went out together for an evening meal and drink. It's amazing how often one meets the same people time and again here!

Day 27: Flying onto Franz Josef Glacier by Helicopter!

Friday 1st January 

We flew onto the glacier! In a helicopter!

Distance: Helicopter, ~20km+ ~20km, walking ~8km

Total Distance: 4079km

How did you start your new year? Hung over? At work? I started it by taking a helicopter up to a World Heritage Site, the Franz Josef Glacier. Start as you mean to go on!

It used to be possible to walk up there, but as the glacier has retreated at a record rate (global warming!) it has become too dangerous to go near the face as I a and rocks fall regularly. The glacier moves at 0.5m-2m per day, one day of the fastest in the world. Our guide told us people used to leave things like their shoes at the bottom only to find that they'd been eaten by the glacier.

We were knitted out with waterproofs, boots, crampons, and warm clothing. The day was warm and, due to the reflection of the ice, would be hotter in the glacier, so the clothing was put in our bags just in case something happened. 

The helicopter took us 5 at a time on a 4 minute ride up over the valley and onto Franz Josef. Some people say it's a weird sensation, totally unlike a plane. Maybe I got a better pilot. The sensation was like nothing happened. Just sat down, lots of noise, then we were levitating over the land and out over the valley. Definitely getting a small helicopter for my midlife crisis. Might have enough money by then to afford it.

Once on the ice we attached crampons then were taken by our guide through the cracks and crevasses of the lower glacier. Apparently this is the only place in the world were one can pay to walk across this sort of terrain on a guided tour. (Ergo, you need friends, experience, or extreme bravery/stupidity to do it elsewhere.) 

We walked over the ice, then down into the cracks that a made as the glacier moves and the sun begins to melt it. The ice here is white, cracks having formed in the top most layer as the sun and air bubbles work to break the ice. Dig deep enough though, or find a place out of the sun, and it's back to the clear ice with a blue hue due to thickness and how the ice refracts light.

The ice is also often dirty. As it passes through the valley it erodes the walls and floor, making a while, deep valley, like we have in northern England formed during the last ice age. The eroded and fallen debris are gathered up by the glacier and ride in, on, or under it. If ground fine enough the rock can become powdered form in "rock flour", a putty-like substance with properties like corn starch paste (solidifies with high impact, soft runny when left alone. A bit like me). There were also a number of chips stock in the surface. Being dark they absorb heat from the sun more than the reflective ice. This heat is transferred into the local ice, melting the chip a little hole to sit in.

With the ice moving so fast trips are never the same. The guides build a path through the ice, cutting steps with ice axes and erecting banisters of steel poles and ropes. We climbed between and through the ice of ever narrowing cravasses (cravass: n. Big crack in glacial ice) until we reached the highest safe point. Beyond this point is presently a rediculously, phenomenally, unbelievably large hole. Size of your local village size hole. Probably bigger than that actually. We weren't going near it.

We went back via a few caves, glacial streams (which we drank from), and passed a helipad used by older people wanting a shorter, but still high, walk. Eventually we looped back round to our own helipad, de-cramponed, and levitated in a small steel bubble through increasingly strong winds to Franz Josef, taking in the Robert's Point platform I visited on Day 25 and the path to the glacier base I did Day 26. 4 minutes we'd swooped down and back to base.

What a ride!

We also got free entry to the centre's hot pools. I went back to the hostel, had a random nap on the floor for an hour, ate an early dinner, showered, then went back. I relaxed, chatted to a few people, and was eventually thrown out at closing time.

Day 26: Hiking to the base of Franz Josef Glacier

Thursday 31st December

Hiking to the base of Franz Josef

New Years Party

Distance: walking, 11km

Total Distance: 4031km

Having walked so far and so hard yesterday the morning was spent reading and wondering if I was eligible for Lieutenant Dan's Space Legs.

But in the afternoon I was contacted by the two Dutch girls who, like me, had stayed in Franz Josef for a few extra days and to go up to the glacier tomorrow. We organised to do the walk which goes as close as is allowed, given safety concerns, namely falling rocks and ice.

The day was beautiful and helicopters flew over us every few minutes. We passed over the little bridge out of town, through rain forest and onto the river bed. At points there were signs showing where the glacier had come to over the past few thousand years. It has been receding for a long time, but even more so in the past 8 years. It used to be possible to walk up and onto the glacier- I spoke to a guy who did it 15 years ago and is presently revisiting, now with his family. After too many falls and concerns though it has been decided that people can only go onto the glacier via helicopter now- expensive but fun way to do it.

Later on that evening we went to the bar connected to the hostel. 

"The Monsoon: It Rains...We Pour"

Rain is very frequent here. It rains about as much as the UK near the sea, and well over 10 times that above the glacier- hence the glacier being here. The rain comes as winds travel east across Australia, got hot, pass over the Tasman Sea, pick up moisture, then hit the Southern Alps of the South Island and dump it on to. Hence the snowy peaks of Middle-Earth.

I chatted with the Dutch girls from my old bus, some people from my new bus, a German girl I travelled with on the North Island who's on my new bus, and most of the guides- great guys. I found a ginormous Mexican party sombrero somewhere. And that's how New Year passed.

Happy New Year!

Day 25: Hiking to see Franz Josef Glacier- too cloudy to fly

Wednesday 30th December

Hiking to Robert's Point to see the Franz Josef Glacier

Kayaking in the local lake

Distance: Hike, 11km +2km, Minibus & Kayak, 12km(?)

Total Distance: 4020km

Today started with a disappointment. We were due to fly by helicopter up to the Franz Josef Glacier. However, the cloud was low and thick, preventing us going. I tried to switch onto a later flight, but as the cloud refused to move that was cancelled too. A few people went off to the brilliant bakery, having 'saved' $300.

Instead a few of us decided to go get the best view of Franz possible. The advice was that there was a viewing platform which wasn't say to get to, but would be below the level of the clouds whilst allowing us a good view of the exposed glacier.

The hike was tough and very dangerous at times, but not too concerning for 5 young people with some experience of doing these things. It was a fun challenge, and we crossed over a number of worrying swing bridges, as well as traversing various interesting 'paths'.

Finally we reached the top, getting a wonderful view of the glacier and a spot for lunch.

Link to my friends Facebook album of photos:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153611614986977&id=632806976

We returned quickly and without drama (we may have got a little lost...), before hitting the bakery for RnR. 

Despite our tiredness we were off again, going kayaking in the local lake. The guides were great and I had a lot of chat with the one from Wales who's been here for 5 months. We took a paddle down a little creek at the far end of the lake, then returned making silly faces and poses for the guides who took pictures.

Link to the kayak companies photo album:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153613094846977&id=632806976

Afterwards we we shattered. 1 pint at the pub, scavenge some food, then early to bed.