New Zealand- part 4

Before planning this trip I had no idea that New Zealand had glaciers. Just another thing that makes New Zealand such incredible country. The two most famous glaciers are the Fox Glacier and the Franz Joseph Glacier. We arrived for our half day glacier hike at 8:45 am, well more like 8:55 am because we can never be anywhere on time! When we arrived they told us that Emily may not be tall enough to go on the hike. But after a manager came and spoke with us and Emily they decided to let her go. We were in the slow group which consisted of mostly folks in there 60's and 70's and our family. We had to get all the necessary equipment which consisted of boots, wool socks, a gortex jackets and our spikes for our boots. We boarded the bus and drove about 10 minutes to the park. It was probably a rough 40 minutes to the base of the glacier. We climbed up steep paths where there often streams of water flowing. Sometimes we hiked along the river bed where chunks of ice from the glacier could be found. Often there were waterfalls spouting of the rock faced mountains. It was just beautiful. The guide had Emily and Logan up front with him so he could help in difficult spots. They did better than I did! What a workout that day was. When we got to the base we were told we would only be hiking up about 1/4 of the way. Of course my first reaction was what a rip off but two hours later I changed my mind! At the base of the glacier we put on our spikes and got some lessons in walking and off we went. The first part was about 100 ice carved steps. They had a roped hooked in the ice for you to hold on to. There were some really steeps steps. We thought it would be cold but by this time the jackets and sweatshirts were tied around our waist, the sun was out and we were working hard. We hiked about 2 hrs the the "top" of where we were going. It was a beautiful view. The ice in some spots was the most beautiful shade of blue, it is hard to describe.

The trailMason and and ice chunk

Logan tightening the bolts that secure the rope

Emily and the waterfalls

A crevice in the glacier...love the blue color!

Franz Joseph Glacier

The base of the glacier

We were extremely exhausted after finishing up around 2pm. We head back to the Glenfern Villas and rested. The next day we began our drive to Wanaka. The drive of course had several major stops on the way. The first stop was just about 30 minutes from Franz Joseph to Lake Matheson. The lake is know for its calm water in the early morning hours where you can see the mountains reflection...an absolute mirror image! It was so beautiful. We walked around the lake which took about 1 hour. I think by this point every time the van pulled off the road the kids went into panic mode...how long of a walk this time was the question!

Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman