Franz Josef Glacier to Wanaka

July 21, 2009

Last time I was in New Zealand, I made the best of my time in Franz Josef Glacier. In one day I went kayaking on one of the Mirror Lakes and then took a glacier hike with a group up Franz Josef Glacier. I loved the kayaking and didn’t love the hike so much but I felt that I made good use of my time, none the less. When we woke up this morning, we had no plan for what we wanted to do. This is kind of normal for us as we kind of play things by ear usually, but since we’d come so far we should make an attempt to do something at Franz Josef. After all, it is one of the key destination points in New Zealand. We went and looked at brochures and Raven looked online. We tried to get info on river rafting but the websites were ridiculous and most of the places required you to be at the site by 9:30 and it was already 9:15. Ultimately, we decided to go to breakfast at a cafe and decide what to do over coffee.

We went to the same place we’d gone to the night previously for Quiz Night and people there recognized us from the night before. We ordered breakfast and tried to partake in the ‘bottomless coffee and tea”. Raven ordered “filtered coffee” which I learned means regular coffee. How I’d gone 19 days not knowing this, I have no idea. I stuck with tea, which I realized was a good idea when Raven sniffed the coffee. It was apparently vile. We enjoyed our breakfast and decided that we had no idea what to do and we were going to drive to the glacier itself and take our own walk out to it.

We headed out of town following the signs to the glacier. Unlike yesterday, which was sunny and beautiful, today was a torrential downpour. We turned off at the correct road and soon found ourselves sliding along the road. Raven said the road seemed like wet porcelain clay, not something we would want to drive on. Raven gave it her best shot but finally decided the car would slide off the embankment if we continued (which would most certainly put a damper on the trip). We slid back to the main road and decided to head south. At least we tried to do something in Franz Josef. We decided we’d head down towards Wanaka. We drove about 20 minutes or so and then saw signs for Fox Glacier, the other famous glacier in NZ. When I was in NZ the last time, I did not stop at Fox so since we were driving through the town anyway, we decided to go to the i-site to see if they had any info about how to get to the glacier. Not one but both visitor centers were closed, one attached to a cafe which said that they were open when the weather was fine. Did I mention the torrential downpour? So we got back into the car and kept driving. We saw a sign saying there was an access road to the glacier so we took it. Again, the road was unpaved but this time, it wasn’t made of clay and Raven had traction under her tires.

We found our way to the parking lot and saw that there were some cars there. We put on our coats and headed out towards the trail, noticing a sign saying that people should consider wearing a hat and warm clothes. We had the warm clothes, not the hat but went out anyway. The ‘trail’ was really the river bed where the glacier had passed through years previously. The water was brown and muddy but there were random pockets of aquamarine pools that were in sharp contrast to the browns and grays everywhere. We started walking along the river bed and noticed some amazing rocks laying on the ground. They were a brilliant green with white and brown flecks. As we walked we came across a sign warning about ice slides next to huge boulders of ice (the boulders were on the ground). Raven had me pose by it and then posed herself. Probably not one of my smarter moments but I survived my stupidity! I then noticed the signs warning about rock slides so I turned and saw that there was a temporary trail that was marked in the center of the riverbed. I decided to walk to it, Raven preferring to continue walking where we’d been doing so previously. The two trails connected at a point where the trail started going up towards the glacier. We walked along it for a while until we had a view of the glacier that we liked. We took numerous pictures of it and then started heading back. I should point out that people without a guide should not walk onto the glaciers because one, you need crampon ice shoes and other appropriate gear and two, because the ice is unstable and one misstep could easily become your last. So we went to look at the glacier from a safe distance instead. On the way back down I saw the posts for the temporary trail and Raven followed me. Right after we did that, a ranger came by with a shovel. We stopped to talk to him and he told us that he was on his way up to see if there had been any slides by the creek. Apparently, the muddy brown water is usually the same aquamarine blue as the pools we saw before. Rangers can tell there has been a rockslide when the water turns muddy. He also told us that he was trying to decide if he needed to close the trail because major rainfall was predicted for the afternoon. Apparently the creek rises fast when the rains hit, rising 1 meter every 15 minutes. He also pointed out a place in the cliff where the vegetation was clear because of a rockslide. He said he was glad that we’d walked away from that area because the cliff is still unstable. Apparently, the rockslides began 10 months ago (including HUGE boulders sitting at the bottom) and they’d had to close the glacier until a week or so ago. He also pointed out that he was not allowed to wear a hood because he needed to be listening for rockslides. Oops. I immediately took off my hood. I guess we timed it really well. We walked back up towards the car park and saw another ranger working on digging a hole. He talked to us as well and said that if the rains come that they’d have to close the glacier for the day but it was clearing up so he thought they wouldn’t have to. Minutes after he said that, it started to rain again. We hurried back to the car and by the time we got there it was hailing and coming down so hard that we couldn’t see the cliffs near us. I guess they were going to have to close the trail after all!

We felt incredibly fortunate that we got to see the glacier and stayed dry. After we got back into the car the rains really came down. We drove south towards Wanaka with the water pouring down in sheets. There was one point where we were driving along the coast and saw hundreds of little piles of rocks by the side of the road. Raven stopped the car to go and take pictures. She got out with her coat and I jumped out right after her without a coat and crossed the street to take pictures. I lasted 3 quick pictures with the wind howling, the rain pouring down and zero visibility so I ran back into the car while Raven took more pictures. It was a good place for a picture stop, I was just too cold, wet and couldn’t keep my camera dry. We continued on and decided not to have lunch in the car as it was way too wet. We stopped at a scenic sight of sand dunes and beach as the rain had let up a bit and we needed a pit stop. We got some great pictures of the beach and cliffs and I went up into a look out tower to take more pictures and noticed Raven trying to take pictures of a fantail that was flitting around her. When I got back down the same fantail started darting between the trail and my feet. He almost flew into my jeans he was so erratic. I got some pictures of him but again, he was so darn fast. It was awesome.

We got back into the car and drove towards Haast, a small beach town. We took a chance on a cafe as there really weren’t other options. One thing I like about New Zealand is that when you go to a small town you don’t see McDonalds and other fast food places. Instead you see local cafes. We ordered lunch and sat as close to the fire as we could because that place was freezing. As we sat waiting for our food I saw a flash of lightning outside (some of you know my hatred of lightning) followed 2 seconds later by a boom of thunder. Then the power flashed off. Oh, cute. The power came back on but we were witnesses to a thunder storm and more torrential rain. I had pumpkin soup (as in squash… it’s all pumpkin here) and a tomato and cheese toastie (now anything called a toastie has to be yummy) and a ginger beer. I’m liking the ginger beers a little too much. I fear I might be getting addicted and unfortunately, I know that I can get ginger beer at Cost Plus in Olympia.

After our lunch we headed back out and towards Haast Pass. Yep, we were going into the mountains in the middle of winter, something I hate to do in Washington. The drive was beautiful. Since the rain was pouring down, there were countless waterfall cascading down along the road. I commented that it was like we were in Milford Sound. We’ve being listening to books on tape this entire trip and I tried valiantly to stay awake but sleep found me during the drive. I woke up to find that there was snow all along the sides of the road. Oops. Luckily, even though there was a lot of rain coming down, it didn’t snow. The mountain pass would NOT be fun if that were the case.

Finally, we drove along Lake Wanaka and we could finally see little spots of blue poking out of the clouds. Lake Wanaka is a brilliant light blue, kind of like the glacier water at Fox Glacier. This seems strange when the sky is grey. It’s one of the most beautiful sights, truly. The blue water, the looming snowcapped mountains, the clouds and mist weaving in and out of the mountain tops and the lush green forests are just incredible. I hope I can get some pictures tomorrow. We got into Wanaka when it was still daylight and went in search of a backpacker. The Wanaka YHA was pretty full and only had a dorm with 7 rooms available. We found a place called the Matterhorn, which has been wonderful. Well, it was until now because Raven is closed and can’t get the heater to do what she wants it to. We are sharing a twin room again and this time it has *gasp* a bathroom attached to the room. Luxurious! LOL. We made dinner tonight and now we’re sitting in our room online. We plan to stay here for two nights because we want to explore Mt. Aspiring National Park. I loved this park when I was here last time because of the mystical beech forests and I would love to have time to do it again. Tomorrow is my big chance!

This trip is about to start winding down soon. I’m still traveling south but not for much longer. Tonight and tomorrow we’ll be in Wanaka. Then we’ll spend two nights in Dunedin, followed by two nights in Kaikoura. We’ll then cross the ferry again and stay two nights in Masterton before I fly back up to Auckland for one more night and then I’m heading home. It’s hard to believe and yet I’ve seen so much this trip. I’ve definitely packed in a lot in a month. Yay!