Glacier Country, New Zealand

On Saturday, we explored Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. The ice is retreating pretty quickly at these two glaciers so the trips onto the actual ice mostly involved taking a helicopter ride. Deciding between taking the heli tour and eating for the rest of the trip wasn't the toughest decision. It would have been really cool to do, but I think we will save that for we aren't quite so budget travellers. We did take advantage of a few (free) DOC walks to get within viewing distance of the two glaciers.

On the way to Fox glacier. All of the streams in NZ have had incredibly clear water. You generally can see meters under the surface. Not so here, the glacier water was an opaque grey colour. Finally water that we had no urge to jump into!

Relaxing walk to view Fox. Nothing can phase us after the Routeburn track.

Jaz was there too!

As close as we could get to Fox glacier.

Although not a great picture, its proof we were there.

In the afternoon, we headed to Franz Josef.

The dirty ice at the top is all we saw of Franz Josef. Oh well, just another reason to come back!

Jaz and I had have recently read the New Zealand novel The Luminaries set in Hokitika during the gold rush. After seeing the glaciers, we drove to Hokitika and talked excitedly about the book. It was all in all a lovely relaxing day.

 We camped near an abandoned mine just outside Hokitika. It was a DOC campsite, but in reality just a glorified parking lot. Only one spot was available, but it was pretty much out in the open. I decided to drive further in to see if there was a more private spot. No such luck,

Unfortunately, on the turn around I got the car stuck in a ditch. Thankfully there were New Zealanders camping at the same place. Before my wheels had uselessly rotated four times, one man had gathered up a group of four people to push us out. He instructed me on what to do. Jaz didn't even have to get out of the car. I think we were stuck for a total of one minute. The people in this country are so kind. People always talk about how nice Canadians. We just cannot compete. It's more of an awkward politeness than anything you would see in New Zealand.