Wednesday April 21st, 2010
Day 10
Franz Josef/Fox Glacier
Aw, glacier day!
So we were thinking about doing a half day hike tour for Franz Josef (105 NZD, Fox Glacier is a little bit cheaper, 90 NZD), but an English girl told us last night that her friends did it and thought that it was a waste of time (“You spend nearly half the time just walking to the glacier”). So we scrapped that idea. I asked Apo around 7am in the morning what she thought about doing the full day tour (Franz Josef 160 NZD, Fox 145 NZD). She was still half asleep and time was running out, so we decided today we would DIY and check out the glaciers ourselves and if we saw fit, do a tour tomorrow.
Thus, Apo slept in, while I watched an excellent New Zealand film called “Once Were Warriors” on my laptop. The actor that plays Jango Fett and the clones in the Clone Wars (Temeura Morrison) is the male lead in the film.
After breakfast we checked out of the hostel and made our way to the first glacier, Franz Josef. The thing about glaciers is that they’re not easy to get to. As I mentioned before, you have to walk a good amount of time before you get to the ice, for Franz Josef about 1-1.5 hr.
The walk to the glacier however, is quite beautiful. Many years ago, the glacier had cut through the mountain and then started to retreat (retreating extremely rapidly at 70 cm/day in 1984) leaving behind a valley abundant in waterfalls and glacier-cut rocks as you can see here.
We got as close to the glacier as we could without the need of a tour guide (to get onto the glacier itself you have to join a tour as the area is extremely dangerous and special equipment is needed). Looking out onto the valley with the glacier behind you is quite an experience. The glacier itself is also very beautiful and you could make out people dotting the ice surface far up the glacier.
Walking back, I hella needed to go to the bathroom and the nearest one was back at the carpark almost an hour away. As I walked through that pristine valley full of glacier water waterfalls, all I could think about was taking a piss. After relieving myself in the port-a-potty, we headed towards Fox Glacier.
At the small town next to Fox, we had a seafood basket with chips (French fries) which was quite good but quite costly (15 NZD). Afterwards, we had a walk around the nearby Lake Matheson. The walk around the lake and the views of the mountains in the distance reminded me of this old painting my parents have back at the house. The painting is of an American landscape, but there was a visual similarity I found looking out at the mountains with the water in the foreground that reminded me of that painting and also of the house I grew up in.
Fox Glacier was a bit disappointing compared to Franz Josef, it’s much flatter and smaller. However, it’s much closer and easier to get to which was good because our legs by this point were getting all walked out. The signs going up to the glaciers describe extremely serious situations but also have a child-like quality to them (I’m assuming so that even a child can understand what they mean). I had a drink from the stream coming from the glacier (making sure that it was in a safe, open area with stable footing) and it tasted quite good, cool and crisp and had a bit of a salty taste to it.
Back at the carpark, I saw an elderly lady feed a green Kea some crackers with the tour guide looking on. If you read one of my previous posts about the begging ducks, you can understand my discomfort at seeing that Kea eating crackers. The Kea is a majestic bird with a powerful beak and claw that it sometimes uses to tear the fat off of sheep. But here it was, manically chasing a cracker to the elderly peoples’ amusement. But I didn’t say anything. I did notice a tag on one of the Kea’s leg and, with the help of cognitive dissonance, resolved that the Kea was probably a pet of one of the park rangers and was too far gone, that it needed humans for substance. Thinking back, I should’ve mentioned something and not have just stood there as they fed the bird (note: a “Please Do Not Feed the Wildlife” sign was about 20 metres away).
On the drive from Fox to our next stop, Wanaka, we stopped at Bruce Bay. A significant feature of Bruce Bay is that its beach is full of circular rocks and pebbles that people like to stack or write on. Also, it’s a great place to watch the sunset and though we couldn’t see the sun because of the clouds, the different hues of pink and blue made up for it.
We arrived in Wanaka that night at around 9pm, which was shit for us because most of the hostels we called had already closed reception by this time. Luckily we found a hostel (Mountain View Backpackers) in our trusty NZ Lonely Planet that was still open and had a very nice double room available. It was the most comfortable bed we’ve had all trip which was good, because we were exhausted.
Sleep.
Reminder: DT= Day's Total (i.e. the total costs for that day), RT = Running Total, RDA = Running Daily Average (i.e. the daily average spending up to that day)
DT: 92.9
RT: 1008.85
RDA: 100.89
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