We heard rain fall overnight but when we got up, there were signs of blue among the clouds. It was supposed to rain fairly heavy today, but we lucked out and had some fair weather. These glaciers are the closest to the temperate and ocean zones of any in the world. This is what the Franz Josef glacier looked like today -
The walk was about an hour and half to the toe. It was amazing and the cloud started to clear later in the morning. There were a number of glacier walking groups with boots and crampons learning to walk on the glacier, but none had ice tools. The views were stunning. Some more photos...and you can see people on the glacier walks.
Next, we drove to the Fox glacier, about 30km down the highway. The toe of the glacier was only a 30 minute walk - much more accessible, a shorter walk but just as interesting. It had a huge hole at the toe and a number of people walking higher, into some dangerous territory.
Tomorrow we are off to Wanaka, about 4-5 hours drive from the west coast. We will head from there to Te Anau for 2 nights and experience Milford sound before heading to Queenstown.
More to come when we have access to a computer.
No comments:
Post a Comment