A glacier by the sea
An early start this morning, and for some reason the 5 hour journey to the Franz Josef Glacier on the west coast takes nearly all day! It’s a cloudless on the day I arrive and leave, but the day I want to go on the glacier….… it rains! We’re kitted out in boots, crampons, waterproofs (which prove no match for the rain) and head out to the glacier. Known in Maori as “tears of the avalanche girl” it was subsequently discovered and explored by an Austrian who named it after their emperor at the time. The glacier flows right to the rain forest, and moves around 1m a year- a plane that crashed high up was at the terminal six and a half years later. It moves 10 times as fast as Swiss glaciers.
Despite the rain, the low clouds drifting amongst the flows and huge cracks in the ice look mystical.
High up, the ice is blue as it’s very pure and very dense. After an enjoyable but wet day, the small streams on the way back to the carpark are now raging torrents, and even the pathway is a river! The free hot chocolate is welcome.
Tomorrow onto somewhere warmer!
Tags: Travel
Nick