Day 5 and 6. Made the best out of the rees, the atas apartment. Checked out late. set off to fox glacier. Stopover at wanaka. Reached wanaka puzzling world, waited for frens, didnt go in. Realised left my watch behind. Sigh. Interesting. My first thot was goodbye watch, while merv's was to drive back! seriously will nv thot of it. Another 100+ km one way to fetch a watch?! called the hotel and got them to help send over to greymouth. Hope no lost package along the way. Shared the Red star burger for lunch. Continue 3 hrs drive to fox glacier. Sun is strong thus temp is jus nice. The number of cows sun bathing on the vast greenland is really incredible. Large herds. Jus black and white and brown spots on the greens. Of cos the 'ben and jerry' cows are nicer or prettier.
Arrived at 5pm. Motel and holiday park style. Got stove and utensils, crockery and cutlery. All equipped. Porch for the car is right outside the door. Went marketing at the supermart. Prepared pizza, garlic bread and soup in the motel. Checked out the fox's sky diving centre. Forecast tmr will be raining. So they can offer us immed jump at 815pm. We gave it a pass as it seemed abit erm...cant find a better word. Dun want to ruin their image too as it is jus us judging the book by its cover. Perception. Went to lake matheson for an after-dinner walk. Hopefully we can return before the sun sets. they really do not have any light source along any trails. we only have 2 hp light sources. Frens do not have cam phones. So better walk fast.Dropped off frens and braved the cold to look for glow worms. Whoa real dark. Flashes the hp light occassionally to make sure we arent walking into some river. Then re-adjusted the vision everytime while admiring the massive number of glowing tiny creatures in the pitch black darkness. Cant even make out the shape of the tree trunks. Jus a black canvas sheet in front, with light spots scattered around. It is like a sky full of glistening stars in the vertical orientation perpendicular to the ground.
Signed up for the fox trot the next morning. We were equipped with the necessary gear and then coach to the glacier floor, where we treked up. Gravel. Some rocks further up towards the glacier, but not as big as those we encountered from the rafting trip. Quite steep tho. We were told to take off our jackets for a while for those who sweat to dry the beads of perspiring else will get real cold up there. Some rocks are covered with moss, lichens and red algae. That's exactly how the rainforest started and formed. Waterfalls along the way. According to the guide, the glacier has retreated alot. Many landslides as the rocks are not strong enuff to withstand the bad weather in nz. Below the gravel path, there is still a deep layer of ice below. did she mention some 30m? Good. Conserved. Rained thruout the hike. lucky for the well protected waterproof gear.
As we climbed up further, temp dropped further and we finally need to put on the crampons and pick up the alpenstock. Stepped on the crushed ice. Need to keep the feet flat. Every morning, the staff will ascent to clear the path at 7am for the trekers. They have a set of tools which we saw along the way. Tried one secretly, much heavier than expected. Many crevices, thus were forbidden to walk off the tracks. But we had stolen some slots in between the times when the guide turned ard to chk on the grp, off track to the slippery big chunks of ice. slipped of cos. But no bruises lucky. Haha perks of being the last man in the grp. Pretty when one walks in the deep crevice with steep glacier walls at the sides. the tinted glasses make the white seemed blue. the guide showed us some amazing features with deep holes in the ice and dripping glacier water. The camera lens was totally covered with rain droplets. Boarded the bus which fetched us back to fox glacier town. Returned and hang the gear out to dry, got our cert then to hobnail cafe for lunch. French toast in maple syrup and chicken burger this round.
Drove over to sanz josef after lunch.checked in and went marketing again. Fixing spaghetti with sausage this time. Haha italian meals are the easiest to prepare. booked sky diving at 1pm the next day.
