From Punakaiki, we checked out the Pancake Rocks:
And then headed down to Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. These beauties are unusual in that they extend almost all the way down to sea level, which is really rare in the 40 degree latitude range; it'd be like having glaciers near the coast in northern Spain. Moreover, like everything else on the South Island's West Coast, they are smack dab in the middle of a temperate rainforest; the improbability of that combination (as our guide said, what happens when you put an ice cube in your garden? What happens if you put a plant in your freezer?) makes them unique worldwide.
And we happened to catch them on a glorious day. We took a full day stroll up onto Franz Josef, hiking up past the visible moraine in this photo and around the crevasses, seracs and blue ice.
 |
| Franz Josef |
 |
| One of the regular traffic jams. There were a few of us. |
 |
| Justin in Conqueror Position |
It was a really memorable day. We actually have a hilarious video that I will upload to YouTube as soon as I've got the time and wherewithal to figure out how to do that (yeah, yeah, Little Ben, laugh it up) -- the guide led us through these crazy tiny thin crevasses and under these caves, in a glacier that moves up to several meters per DAY. We also met some hysterically funny Britons on a round-the-world ticket and a delightful UCLA Law grad named Mike who is on his bar trip. Wherever you are, Mike, you'll pass!
From the glaciers we headed down to Wanaka on the lake of the same name, and did a spectacular day hike called Rob Roy. It was a highlight of our trip. First, the hour-long drive over gravel roads and across several creek fords to get there made it seem memorably off the beaten track. The drive there was classically New Zealand -- sheep farms in front of gigantic peaks -- and we got to pass a lot of adorable little lambs in what has to be the most scenic sheep country on earth.
Once we got to the Mt. Aspiring National Park, we actually forded rivers (and beat up our rental car) to get to the trailhead. And once on the trail, we barely saw five other people on the difficult 330 m climb straight up the heart of a glacial valley. And holy moly. Having this whole place to ourselves was pretty much Justin and my idea of heaven:
This was the walk up:
This was our first glimpse of the Roy glacier:
And we hung out with the alpine parrots at the end of the trail, in front of absolutely marvelous waterfalls and the most scenic outhouse ever constructed.
We ate a delicious dinner in Wanaka -- and yes, we tried pavlova, but gourmet kiwifruit pavlova, and it was absolutely divine -- before heading down on our way to Milford Sound. We got slammed with a mighty storm on our way to Fiordland, and so ducked into quirky Gunn's Camp in the Hollyford Valley about 40k before Milford to avoid the raging winds. We were treated with old historic public works cabins, a mad little pioneering museum, and we actually heated our sleeping quarters with wood and coal as the storm pounded the tin roof.
And then we drove through Fiordland, some of the most mythically beautiful country on earth, as waterfalls from the previous night's rain cascaded down all around us, and the mountains rose higher and higher into the misty clouds: (I know, I know, it sounds unbelievably cheesy, but this place was almost more mindblowing in crappy weather, and that has to tell you something):
... and the sun broke through the clouds right as we boarded the boat to head into Milford Sound, which is one of the youngest fjords in the national park. It looks like a glacier carved it yesterday. What can I really say about this place? Photos do not do it justice.
We're in for a long drive back to Christchurch tomorrow from our stopover in Queenstown, and then we're in for an insanely long "day" of flying: Christchurch to Sydney to LAX to Denver to La Guardia. Wish us luck for a good sleep on the flights, and we'll see you back in the States!
Meredith & Justin
No comments:
Post a Comment