Saturday 25th November
Driving from east to west of the island, we had lunch at Castle Hill on Arthur’s Pass.
This country is getting more and more incredible: huge limestone rocks up to 30m high scattered across the landscape – the setting for some of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ film and a superb world-class bouldering location (we saw a few climbers with their own portable crash mats). I had a go at climbing up onto one of the taller rocks, but embarrassingly needed a leg up from Dan (15), after Micah (13) and Nathan (12) scrambled up with ease! I blame it on the flip-flops!
After our lunch stop, we stopped (along with many camper vans) at various viewpoints, including the Otira Viaduct t the road drops dramatically down between the mountains and another where I met my first mischievous kea – apparently the world’s only alpine parrot that is notorious for pecking food from tourists and posing for photos (and only an estimated 1000-5000 remain).
En route to Franz Josef, we stayed over in Ross where Sunday (26th Nov) morning we went for a walk around the town’s gold mines, but in spite of much searching in the river, no-one got lucky with even any false gold, only shiny mica.
Later we stopped at an empty beach for lunch (weekend and sunshine, but still New Zealand doesn’t seem to get busy). Geoff built a stone tower, Mary collect MUCH driftwood (for a Christmas themed craft project), the children could have sat all day cracking rocks and I enjoyed relaxing with my book.
The airbnb in Franz Josef came with a cat and a rather sparsely decorated outdoor Christmas tree! It really feels rather out of place in the summer sunshine here, but we’re starting to play Christmas music to try and persuade ourselves it really is nearly December!
Monday 27th November and our much anticipated visit to the Franz Josef glacier: perhaps my favourite day so far! I recognised the familiar milky colour of a glacial stream from days walking alongside the gushing river in the Himalayas, but in contrast to the dusty rock-covered grey glacier on Everest, Franz Josef was snow-white and descending down an almost vertical slope. It is apparently one of the fastest-moving glaciers due to rapid snowfall in the Southern Alps (over 5m a year) and was actually advancing until 2008.
Some of us enjoyed a satisfying climb through hanging moss, tree ferns and much green vegetation up to two further viewpoints of the glacier which showed more of its immensity and gave spectacular views over the area. With my geography teacher hat on, I wondered in awe at how the glacier’s erosive force had sculpted the landscape quite so dramatically; but reflected sadly on the extent to which this glacier has receded in recent years, up to the point of the ice-fall, making it unsafe to climb on or even walk up close. When Geoff and Mary visited in 2000, they had been able to trek onto the glacier from the viewpoint where we could only stand behind and gaze across. (Even my 2012 guidebook recommends guided glacier walks, which are no longer possible without a helicopter flight in – 2 helicopters in a month seems a bit extravagant!)
Gilford’s Great Escape 
What fantastic photos and descriptions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What fantastic bedtime reading! Enjoyed this very much especially as it’s stirring happy memories of our visit 8 months before the earthquake, though it’s very sad to see and read about the aftermath! Continue having a lovely time xxx
LikeLiked by 1 person