No Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingering from Ylvis' catchy 2013 Swedish pop song for us today....
No, today the fox speaks in geological term. Ancient terms of water, rock and ice. For today is the day we visit the Fox Glacier. One of the most accessible Crown Jewels in the icy tiara of glaciers that descend from new Zealand's southern alps.
When planning this trip to the South Island one of the things that we saved up for was to end it with a really memorable experience. Something that, hopefully, would be as memorable as the Queen Charlotte Track at the beginning. A bookend if you will! And that is why today we've splurged the extra money to hire a guide and actually walk up and onto the glacier itself. Juliet is too young to go - minimum age of seven required - so we split up into two groups. Us girls in the morning and the boys in the afternoon. So it's up early and a nice little walk into town from our camp site to start our day.
Once we've had our safety briefing at the Fox Glacier Guides and get fitted with crampons we board a bus to take us from the little tourist township up the nearly seven kilometers to the glacier itself. At first the drive is the usual stunning beauty of lush trees and ferns so typical of the south island. But as we gradually get closer the trees become noticeably smaller and then non existent, marking the time when the glacier was this far down the valley. Surprisingly not that many hundred of years past. It's a potent image of how alive this land is, and just how fast this glacier is receding up the hill. No one can fake the growth of trees. As we enter the valley itself the naked rock cliffs towering above us remind us of just how small we really are.
The Fox Glacier is fed by four alpine glaciers and falls some 2600 meters in a giant frozen waterfall toward the sea and paradoxically lands it in the rainforest that covers the coastline of the South Island. And at the moment it is retreating at an alarming rate. The past years of drought and the overall warming that we've experienced has hastened it's retreat. And because New Zealand is a maritime climate (meaning that we get lots of snowfall, but not very cold temperatures) our glaciers are specifically sensitive to global warming.
In keeping with the warming theme, it seems appropriate that today the sun is shining (quite a rare thing for this part of the country) and of course that just enhances the stunning beauty.
As we walk up to the terminus you can hear the sounds of water rushing out of the glacier and the occasional rock or slab of ice rumbling down. It's like a great beast rumbling in it's own growly language.
On go the crampons and up we go onto the ice itself. The guide has hacked out steps into the ice, and all safety precautions have been observed, but still we feel quite the rugged individuals. There are quite a few tourists on similar groups (mainly Chinese) so we don't feel isolated, but for us this is not about solitude as much as it is about feeling nature in its grandest form and connecting with the last vestiges of the ice age.
The girls loved it. Sister bonding at it's best. Even when Clara fell down a slope and landed on top of some rocks (which were plugging up a rather deep crevasse) it didn't dampen their spirits.
Although I must say that when she landed in the crevasse and the sound of rock falls hit us, both the guide and myself had a small panic attack while getting to her. Scary though it may sound, with Clara you get used to being put into such situations! She got a bruise and a reminder to stay on the trail. (And the guide got his first gray hair.) And we all laughed at the end.
The highlight for Liana was drinking the pure glacier water that was pouring off the ice. We filled our bottles and brought some home to enjoy at the camp site.
All in all we were on the glacier about three hours. It was hot, it was cold, it was spectacular, it was an immense feeling to be amongst the natural grandeur. And everyone needs to be humbled from time to time. It's good for the soul.
The boys had an equally good time in the afternoon and we spent our last night in Glacier Country bbq-ing in the shadow of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman. What an amazing time that we live in that such wonders are available to us mere humans. I hope that our descendants will have the same views when they have their turn through this world a hundred years or so from now.
The glacier was the perfect way to cap our explorations of the South Island. Tomorrow we are in for a long haul across the country to Christchurch.
No, today the fox speaks in geological term. Ancient terms of water, rock and ice. For today is the day we visit the Fox Glacier. One of the most accessible Crown Jewels in the icy tiara of glaciers that descend from new Zealand's southern alps.
 |
| Hiking up to the Fox Glacier - look closely and you will see some small dots on the trail by the river. Those are people, just to give you an idea of the huge scale of this place. |
When planning this trip to the South Island one of the things that we saved up for was to end it with a really memorable experience. Something that, hopefully, would be as memorable as the Queen Charlotte Track at the beginning. A bookend if you will! And that is why today we've splurged the extra money to hire a guide and actually walk up and onto the glacier itself. Juliet is too young to go - minimum age of seven required - so we split up into two groups. Us girls in the morning and the boys in the afternoon. So it's up early and a nice little walk into town from our camp site to start our day.
Once we've had our safety briefing at the Fox Glacier Guides and get fitted with crampons we board a bus to take us from the little tourist township up the nearly seven kilometers to the glacier itself. At first the drive is the usual stunning beauty of lush trees and ferns so typical of the south island. But as we gradually get closer the trees become noticeably smaller and then non existent, marking the time when the glacier was this far down the valley. Surprisingly not that many hundred of years past. It's a potent image of how alive this land is, and just how fast this glacier is receding up the hill. No one can fake the growth of trees. As we enter the valley itself the naked rock cliffs towering above us remind us of just how small we really are.
 |
| At the glacier terminus. Cameras can't capture the size of this place. See the people standing by the river? |
The Fox Glacier is fed by four alpine glaciers and falls some 2600 meters in a giant frozen waterfall toward the sea and paradoxically lands it in the rainforest that covers the coastline of the South Island. And at the moment it is retreating at an alarming rate. The past years of drought and the overall warming that we've experienced has hastened it's retreat. And because New Zealand is a maritime climate (meaning that we get lots of snowfall, but not very cold temperatures) our glaciers are specifically sensitive to global warming.In keeping with the warming theme, it seems appropriate that today the sun is shining (quite a rare thing for this part of the country) and of course that just enhances the stunning beauty.
As we walk up to the terminus you can hear the sounds of water rushing out of the glacier and the occasional rock or slab of ice rumbling down. It's like a great beast rumbling in it's own growly language.
On go the crampons and up we go onto the ice itself. The guide has hacked out steps into the ice, and all safety precautions have been observed, but still we feel quite the rugged individuals. There are quite a few tourists on similar groups (mainly Chinese) so we don't feel isolated, but for us this is not about solitude as much as it is about feeling nature in its grandest form and connecting with the last vestiges of the ice age.
The girls loved it. Sister bonding at it's best. Even when Clara fell down a slope and landed on top of some rocks (which were plugging up a rather deep crevasse) it didn't dampen their spirits.
Although I must say that when she landed in the crevasse and the sound of rock falls hit us, both the guide and myself had a small panic attack while getting to her. Scary though it may sound, with Clara you get used to being put into such situations! She got a bruise and a reminder to stay on the trail. (And the guide got his first gray hair.) And we all laughed at the end.
The highlight for Liana was drinking the pure glacier water that was pouring off the ice. We filled our bottles and brought some home to enjoy at the camp site. All in all we were on the glacier about three hours. It was hot, it was cold, it was spectacular, it was an immense feeling to be amongst the natural grandeur. And everyone needs to be humbled from time to time. It's good for the soul.
The boys had an equally good time in the afternoon and we spent our last night in Glacier Country bbq-ing in the shadow of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman. What an amazing time that we live in that such wonders are available to us mere humans. I hope that our descendants will have the same views when they have their turn through this world a hundred years or so from now.
The glacier was the perfect way to cap our explorations of the South Island. Tomorrow we are in for a long haul across the country to Christchurch.
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