What Does The Fox Say?

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.

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.

Of Caves, Car Rides and Cherries

After hiking for the past five days continuously it seems a bit odd to be sitting in a car. But for once the kids were not whinging about a long car ride. Gee, their legs must be tired!

We're driving from Picton to Golden Bay, at the North West end of the South Island. It's about five hours by car, but we've got all day. First stop is to pick up some fresh cherries from one of the local cherry orchards. There is just nothing in this culinary world like South Island Cherries right from the tree.

It's quite a windy day and I am glad we are not going along the ridge top today. As it is we spend the morning driving through the famous vineyards which surround Blenheim saying hello to all the grape vines that produce some of our favorite wines.

And then it's onwards, through Nelson to Motueka where we stopped for a quick picnic. It was good to stretch our legs before heading up, up, up the winding road that goes over the marble mountain of Takaka and into Golden Bay. I think the isolation of only having one road in and out is one of the things that makes Golden Bay so special. Well, that and the fact that it is just so beautiful!

At the top of the Takaka Hills is a very special place that we promised the kids we would stop at.

Ngarua Caves. When I visited them in 2005 I thought they were absolutely old school and totally worth the stop! Let's hope they live up to the billing.

Tours led by an old farmer through the limestone caves are every hour, on the hour, during summer and so we pay our fee and get our hard hats. The farmer unlocks the padlock and in we go entering a subterranean network of limestone tunnels, huge stalagmites and dripping stalactites. Being in a cave always makes me feel as though I am invading the earth, and that somehow I am not meant to be here in this magical world. The curvature of the stalactites that hang down in graceful collums have been slowly growing here for thousands of years. How young does it make a mere human like myself feel to witness the slower timescale of geology?

Geological Splendor

And the cave is a record book of New Zealand's animal life too. The cave network has many vents that go up to the surface and which many animals have fallen down over the years, trapped to die of their injuries or starvation. There are bones from kiwi birds and even the extinct Moa bird.

Out we climb

Look mum, we found a Moa!

While looking at the femur of the huge legs one unfortunate Moa it gives you the sense of how tall they really were. To imagine that New Zealand once had these enormous birds walking on it not more than six hundred years ago boggles the mind. Geology may take it's time, but extinction can happen in a mere blink of an eye.

The kids thought the cave was great, and I am glad that it hasn't changed much in the nine years since I was last here. It seems like so much of the world has moved on that revisiting a place that has remained intact sends a little wave of peace down my spine. We spend a little time exploring the Karst landscape around the caves (where scenes from the hobbit were recently filmed) before heading down, down, down off the mountain into Golden Bay itself and our Top Ten Campground.

Walking down from the cave through the spectacular Middle Earth scenery and Tasman Bay.

These campgrounds are one of my favorite things about traveling around New Zealand with the kids. From what I've seen you always get a good location, you get good quality and the kids are always well looked after.

One like to cook, the other doesn't. Can you tell?

Tonight there is a kids movie set up for after dinner so the kids swap their after dinner dish duties for the dinner making itself so they won't miss out. And after all the dishes are dried Randall and I have the chance to walk hand in hand along the beach and enjoy the long, long evening.

Golden Bay Selfie!

Appreciate what you have, love your family, enjoy nature. Life is good.

Day Five - the final day!

Looking down on Mistletoe Bay

The last 13 kilometers of the Queen Charlotte Track today! And it's the first day that we have any kind of a deadline. We are headed to Anakiwa, where we will catch the water taxi back to Picton at 3:30. Something tells me that we will be able to make it.


Really?! Over so soon? It seems like we've been on the trail forever and yet only just started. Maybe that is because this is just the beginning of our tramping, or possibly glamping, adventures.

The track is mellow today, mainly walking through undulating farmland with just a bit of native forest to give us a send off. It no longer feels like we are hiking in a remote place as little bits of civilization are ever more present - boats whizzing by, holiday houses and farm animals. The hills are no higher than our own Mount Maunganui at home so it's pretty easy. We catch up with some of the other hikers along the way and enjoy the relaxed pace. Apart from Clara's bee sting it was a perfectly peaceful way to end our big hike.

Spontaneous sister love - my favorite picture from the track

The end of the track!

By the time we reached Anakiwa we could feel the 70 kilometers in our legs and I was very happy to sit in the shade by the dock and rest my legs while the kids jumped off the water taxi jetty.

The Queen Charlotte Track has been a fantastic experience on many different levels. It has cemented in my mind that the greater outdoors are accessible and fun with a bunch of children. It has reconnected our family to the natural beauty of our country of New Zealand. It has given us all a space in which to breath, relax, joke, stretch and grow together away from the busy-ness of life. And it is has left us with memories that will last a lifetime.

South Island Here We Come!

And the travelin' family are on the move again!

It's summer holidays and our beautiful island nation is beckoning to be discovered! One of the things that New Zealand is most famous for is it's spectacular scenery and just how accessible it is for people like us to get out and explore it. So we have decided to try our hand at tramping with the kids and exploring the top and west of New Zealand's South Island.

When we first came up with the idea of taking the kids to experience New Zealand's great hiking tracks I think most of my friends thought it was nuts. Four kids hiking mountain trails and through bush and rain forest, I must agree that is sounds like the ultimate recipe for a whine-fest.... But I had a cunning plan up my sleeve.... instead of dropping them in the deep end of "tramping" (definition for you non kiwi's out there, being a multi day hiking or bush walking) we decided to introduce them to "glamping" on the world famous Queen Charlotte Track. (Definition: glamorous tramping.) Many weeks went into the planning to be sure we knew what we were getting into, and to get the kids really sold on the idea. We even had "practice tramps" up and around the Mount where we live.


So with hiking boots, camelbacks and loads of bug repellent we eagerly arrived into the little town of Picton at the top of the South Island. This cute little town has grown up as the port that the Cook Strait ferry docks into, you can drive onto the ferry in Wellington and in three hours drive off into the South Island. And many adventure seeking tourists take this route on their "100% Pure New Zealand" experience. (Trademark NZ government marketing campaign, cause let's be honest, New Zealand is not really all that clean and green, there just aren't as many people to pollute it!)

We are super lucky on the weather. It is a sparkling day and the forecast is looking good for the next three days, fingers crossed it stays that. Our camp ground is filled with RV's, cabins and tents with quite a range of different people - Kiwi, German, French and British -  couples and families alike all keen to see this beautiful land and enjoy the height of summer.

It's just an overnight stop for us though. Tomorrow we are catching the 9:30 am water taxi to the start of the trail. Not too early, all part of our "glamping" experience.

Waimarino, does summer get any better?

It doesn't take much. Some sunshine, climbing temperatures and cool water, and voila, a happy summer experience.

To be honest, if you look at Waimarino, it doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary - few diving platforms, home-made water slide, bunch of kayaks and a river/estuary to put them all together. But what makes the perfect summer afternoon is the fun to be had with all these things combined. And don't forget the community spirit. That is what really makes it. We're all having fun in the sun together. And challenging each other.

Me to jump off the five meter high dive. (Have I ever mentioned that I am terrified of heights?) Or the boy who learns to let go of the rope swing - only after swinging back and forth for 10 minutes. Or Juliet who masters the art of paddling a kayak. Maybe she's finally found her sport!

And then there are the boys, of that certain age, who need their testosterone rush for the day. They can kamikaze at great speeds off the water slide, dropping meters into the cool green water. It's such a need for the boys at that age to understand the reality of facing fears and learning to be sensible, and it's good to find a place where they can do it in relative safety. 

Ah, the joys of summer, and the enjoyment of the simple things. It's basic, but the stuff that makes life go from good to great. Enjoy it while it is here. Carpe Diem and enjoy the moment. These are the good old days.

Best ever water slide!

Go Clara.

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” 
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Homecoming

"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a track, that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living." Joseph Campbell

Home.

The place of the humdrum, routines, laundry and the longing to be off traveling again.

But then comes the flip side, the after-effect of so much traveling through foreign lands and cultural experiences. Suddenly your old home town is seen through the eyes refreshed. The old landscape a joy to see and old routine suddenly a happy responsibility.


How can you assimilate the things learned along the journey if you don't have this downtime to pause, reflect, and enjoy the moments already there for us?
For isn't that the one thing that we all do when we are completely caught up in the race of life? We leave our bodies to carry on with the mundane tasks of life, while the brain seeks stimulation elsewhere. For me it's traveling and learning and experiencing, for others it is in global politics, and even more common it's in tv shows and video games.

None of those things are in themselves bad, in fact the majority are very good. But the key is very much to keep those fly away moments in perspective with the amazing gift we have each and every day. In the back yard, the new shoot of a tomato plant. A car that has been cleaned and shines. A school report that is finished with pride. Or the friend that is there with a smile and a wave.

If you only ever learn, you never have the chance to apply, and therefore grow.

I know that I will travel again, and hopefully soon! But for the moment I plan to do a little growing. And for me, that is something that must be done while staying in one place.

Namaste ~

The beach that I live on. Free to walk on everyday. Life is good.