Before going north up the West Coast to Glacier Country, we decided to drive an hour south from Haast and see Jackson Bay. Jackson Bay is an old--some would say failed--New Zealand settlement. It was populated largely by non-English speaking and non-farming European immigrants, and its best hope for survival as a town was to build a harbor for trading and communication. However, the government wanted the settlement but didn't want to shell out the harbor money. Most people left the settlement, but a few of the hardiest did stay, and there is a very small town there now. It's right on the ocean, and incredibly picturesque! We got fish and chips at a famous place there called The Cray Pot (so good... so greasy...) and watched the most amazingly dictatorial seagull I've ever seen.
We also got to see some amazing views of the Tasman Sea along the drive, and stopped for a little walk at the Hapuka Estuary, too!
Franz Josef and Fox are two townships located about 30 minutes away from each other on the West Coast of New Zealand. They are, as named, very close to the Franz Josef Glacier and the Fox Glacier respectively. These glaciers are running their way down their valleys from nearby Mt. Aspiring National Park; we can't actually get into the park from this side (though we were very close to it/in it in Wanaka, while doing Routeburn, and when we went to Mt. Cook), and we had to go all the way South around Te Anau and Haast to be able to go back north to get here.
Our hostel in Franz Josef was GREAT. Very comfortable, possibly the cheapest placed we've stayed, free internet, free breakfast, free soup at night, free popcorn, free towels! (!!!) And also an extremely friendly staff. So everyone, stay at The Glow Worm Cottages when you're in Franz Josef.
We settled in and explored the small town on our first night here, but didn't do much else. I went skydiving in Fox very early the next morning (go back one entry and read about it!), and then came back totally discombobulated and with a hell of an adrenaline high. So I didn't do much that afternoon at all. But that evening, Kara and Jordan and I decided to get out and about and do some walks while the weather was good!
We drove back to Fox and walked the Glacier View Track. This track takes you to a point where you can view the terminal face of the Fox Glacier. Along that way, we passed various points that showed where the glacier used to reach in the 1700's, 1800's, 1950's, etc. It was a very beautiful walk and we spent the time trying to define kettles, tarns, and other glacier terminology! (Kettles are depressions formed by dislodged chunks of glaciers, kettle lakes are these depressions filled with water, and tarns are regular ol' small mountain lakes, as it turns out.)
Jordan says: I particularly like pukeko because of their resilience to change and beautiful plumage. Lizzy, and apparently many other people in NZ, think that they are very similar to takahe, but I fail to see any similarity beyond coloration. Pukeko are much more graceful than most of the other field birds we see here.
Once back at our hostel in Franz for the night, it was time to prepare for our next great adventure: our glacial heli-hike! Jordan, being the sweet and wise man that he is, gave Kara a really amazing birthday present-- a chance to hike ON a glacier! And I was not about to miss out.
So, very early the next morning, we all trooped over to the Franz Josef Glacier Guides building and met our guide, Will, who I will call Will the Handsome Kiwi. (What is it about this place?) (Kara says: I think he was actually Australian.) (Jordan says: Yes, he was.)(Lizzy says: No, I am like 90% sure he was Kiwi.) He explained to us how the day would go, and got us all kitted out with waterproof pants, rain jackets, boots, crampons, and hats and mittens. Then we walked a few minutes through the rainforest to get to the helipad, where our helicopter was waiting to take us to the Franz Josef Glacier!
Kara says: AAAHHH The helicopter was so fun!!!!!!!! AHHH!
Kara says: We should get crampons for Lizzy in everyday life. So she doesn't fall into streams and whatnot.... foreshadowing??????
It was all uphill from there! The helicopter landed towards the lower central part of the glacier, and we were heading up to where the extreme slant of the glacier started to flatten out fairly abruptly, as that is the best area to find lots of interesting formations like compression caves. We were the first group of the morning, so our view was untroubled by people ahead of us.
I licked it.
SO STEAMY. SO RAINFORESTY.