Foxy Lady

It was nice to wake up and not be freezing today. Finally having a place with a heater was quite a treat. The bed wasn’t the most comfortable but I still slept like a rock; I’m making sure to knock myself out nice and proper this trip. Before hitting the road I took advantage of the generously stocked kitchen and devoured some peanut butter toast with plum jelly. I figured real food for breakfast was a good call this morning, I did NOT want to end up with another headache. I really wanted to take a cup of tea on the road with me but didn’t exactly have a to-go cup. After a quick text consultation with my moral equal I decided that as long as I left a note and a $10 NZD bill I could take a glass with me… “Dear Shirley – Thank you for the amazing hospitality. Unfortunately I took one of your glasses with me in the car and it didn’t exactly make it back in one piece. My apologies!” I mean, this may have had a connotation that the glass was broken but taken literally was quite accurate.

With my belly happy and a nice cup of tea in hand I hit the road to Fox Glacier for my helicopter hike, a two hour drive. My eyes didn’t love my driving in the morning sun and decided to play with me and throw around some floaters and spots but they weren’t too bad. The drive to Fox Glacier was stunning, taking me through multiple scenic reserves as Highway 6 moved slightly inland and became known as “Glacier Highway” instead of “Coast Highway.” I was in a much better mood today and found myself singing along with my music while I motored on. When the speakers started to singing to me that its a “Helluva Life” I thought, “hell yeah it is!” Having my cup of tea was a much better solution than another ginger beer. I read the ingredients of that ginger beer yesterday; second ingredient: sugar. There would be no more ginger beer for me; I try my best to avoid consuming anything that has sugar listed that close to the top! At one point on my drive I came around a mountainous road and literally gasped in awe at the beautiful sight before me; lake in the foreground, a stunning rainforest mountain in the background, and a thick layer of clouds right between them. As soon as I felt safe to I stopped in the middle of the road to capture a picture. I couldn’t get the lake from where I could stop but still gorgeous. I thought for a while about how life isn’t just about the destination, it’s about the journey. Sometimes it can be really easy to lose sight of that.

At another point on the drive I came across a spot where the side of the road had recently given out and crumbled down the hillside. That would suck. I realized as I drove on that there were multiple roadside collapses being repaired, I’m guessing from last week’s major storm.

As I started getting closer I kept wondering when I was going to start seeing a glacier. Or hell, any snow on the mountains for that matter. Franz Josef Glacier is about half an hour before Fox Glacier and as I approached Franz Josef I found a bustling little town, but no glacier to be seen. What the heck?! I arrived at Fox Glacier and the second building I saw in town caught my eye, the church! This was my AirBnB accommodation for tonight! So I knew where that was now. But I still didn’t see a glacier. No snow. No ice. Nothing. Another block up the road I found myself at the Fox Glacier Guiding building where I would check in for my helicopter flight to the imaginary glacier. I expected it to be cold on the glacier so I layered up and went to check in. First things first, they throw you on the scale with your pack and gear so they know how to balance the helicopter. I inquired how the weather was up on the mountain today and was informed that it would be as warm, if not warmer than, it was in town since there were currently no clouds and the sun was reflecting off the ice. Awesome. I ran back to my car and ditched my outer layers.

The guides fitted the small group with boots and off we went to the helicopters. My hiking group for this trek consisted of 3 couples, and me. Plus the guide, Jordan. As the helicopter ascended I still couldn’t see anything faintly resembling a glacier. After a brief ride we came around a valley and there it was. It was a cute little glacier. As the helicopter turned back to go get the second half of the group the guide demonstrated how to strap the crampons onto our boots and reviewed some basic, very basic, safety. Finally the group was all assembled. Of the three couples, one was from Singapore, one from Russia, and one from China. The couple from Singapore spoke English; the other two, not really a lick of it. This should be fun for our guide. Jordan led the way as we started across the glacier. It was MUCH easier than I thought it would be. I expected it to be somewhat physically taxing but with the crampons securing each step into the glacier, hiking across it was a breeze. It just took time for Jordan to make sure he was finding us routes that were secure. He carried an axe and would hack away at pieces to make sure it wasn’t going to cave in beneath us and hack steps into steeper terrain so we could safely maneuver. It was much warmer than I had expected up there, I had even stripped off my vest and for most part was down to just my long sleeve shirt, with the sleeves rolled up. Exploring the crevices and stumbling upon little waterfalls and streams from the melting ice was pretty awesome. I was able to refill my water bottle with fresh melting glacier, so good! I realized that the guide was staying hydrated by simply picking up pieces of ice and crunching on them as we went along.

Towards the end of the hike we found a new glacial cave! No, this isn’t new as a gimmick for the hike but actually new. The guides had noticed an opening on their helicopter ride up that morning and another guide joined us to help find it. Jordan and guide Jacob had us stay back as we got close and took their axes and ropes to check it out. They spent about 20 minutes knocking down pieces of melting ice in danger of caving in and screwed a rope into the side of this narrow cave. We were told that we could enter, but just a few people at a time, and to hold on to the guide rope they had just screwed in as it was quite slippery and so as to not slip and slide down into the freezing pool within. Shockingly, I was the first one to climb in! I ditched my pack and trekking pole and crouched down low to crawl down into the cave. I’m not going to lie, it was scary as water dripped down from above and I knew that one crack could be all it would need for the ice overhead to cave in and then my journey would be over. It was an awesome experience, after crawling down about a 15’ tunnel it opened up to a little bit higher “ceiling” and a cold pool. There was even a “window” looking out one side and when I looked through there and realized I was inside a glacier cave and looking out on the surrounding mountains it took my breath away!

And then I looked behind me, and realized that way more than just a couple people had followed me in; almost the entire group had. Oh hell no. I am already claustrophobic and this is an unstable environment. Plus there was only a guide rope on one side and so for others to get down and experience my views I first had to get out of their way. Ugh. I took in the scene before me one more time and started to pull myself up the rope, yes, it was on an incline, and squeeze past folks. One dummy didn’t want to put her phone back in her pocket and use two hands to make this passing easier and as a result she fell backwards onto me and I lost my grip and slipped. My crampons poked her in the leg (she deserved it) and my knuckles sliced against a hard piece of ice as I tried to regain my balance. I made my way out, now frustrated and bleeding. As the rest of the group finished their cave exploration I held my bloody knuckles against the cold glacier ice and pleaded with my body to stop bleeding. Guess what, knuckles bleed a lot! I found a tissue in my pack eventually but realized that one thing I should have in there but don’t, is band-aids. As a matter of fact, I am going to stop writing real quick and go put some in there right now so I don’t forget again. Three bloody knuckles, a blood blister on another knuckle, and a bloody elbow later we made our way from the cave back to our origin to wait for the helicopter to return and pick us up. I wonder if anyone else in the group bled on this trek? We spent a little over two hours hiking around the glacier, I easily could have spent two more up there. I also got very lucky with the weather. For the most part it was sunny and warm but towards the end of our trek the cloud cover started to come in and the temperature started to drop.

Since I was just a block away, after my heli-hike I checked into my AirBnB for the night to drop off my stuff and clean off my wounds. Tonight I am staying in the Church at Fox! An old church that purchased privately about ten years ago and turned into lovely accommodations. It’s a super cozy and comfortable little abode! And it hasn’t burned down yet with me in it so that’s a good sign.

It was about 3pm by this time and I needed food. I had asked the guides on my trek where the best place to eat in Fox Glacier was and their response was that the best thing to do was drive half an hour back to Franz Josef and eat there. Fair enough, I wanted to check out that glacier valley hike anyways. There used to be a Fox Glacier valley hike but there was violent rainstorm here just a week ago and it washed away the roads and trails! I made the windy drive back to Franz Josef and devoured a lamb burger. It was about 4:30pm by then and I had to narrow down what to do next. I had found three hikes in Franz Josef and decided to start on the Callery Gorge hike as it was closest to where I was.

The Callery Gorge was a 90 minute round trip hike down to a swingbridge across, you guessed it, the Callery Gorge. It was a peaceful walk serenaded by the constant sound of helicopters. For Franz Josef also had a glacier and the only way to get onto this one as well was via helicopter. Multiple helicopter tour companies operate tours out of Franz Josef, either doing a heli-hike like I had done on Fox Glacier or simply flying people over the top. I couldn’t see the helicopters in the dense forested area I was in but I sure could hear them. Only twice did I pass people my entire time on the trail. Maybe because of the explosives? Yah, that’s right. I came to a sign on the trail warning of explosives. WTF? And then a little ways up, I saw a box of explosives. I need to do some research on that situation, I’m still confused. A narrow section of the trail had a size that had caved in much like the road. Maybe related to the explosives?!

I came to a waterfall and was disappointed to remember that I had left my phone tripod in the car so I couldn’t scramble to the top of it for a picture. Probably for the better as knowing me I would have fallen off or something anyways! The gorge was majestic and I think I liked it even more than the Hokitka Gorge yesterday. Actually, I know I did, and in large part because I had it all to myself. On the hike back I spotted an animal ahead of me on the trail. What the hell? I didn’t think they had anything out here. The creature stopped and looked up at me and as I approached I finally figured out that this deer/goat looking thing was a mountain goat. A wild mountain goat sighting; that was a first for me. He jumped into the brush and snuffed his flaring nostrils hard, staring at me as I passed. This horned creature was pissed that I interrupted his dinner. Or maybe he knew that I was thinking about how good he would taste in the Jester Cafe’s tangine.

From Callery Gorge I headed down the road to the 90 minute Franz Josef Glacier hike to trek across the glacier valley floor and find this glacier that supposedly was around here somewhere. My eyes feasted upon a new terrain as I made my way towards the supposed glacier. The valley floor was streams of river beds sending melting glacial runoff out to the Tasman Sea. In between two mountains I could finally see this little glacier start to appear. Throughout the trail there were signs marking where the glacier was at certain years; the amount of glacial loss since 2009 is absolutely shocking. In my lifetime, these glaciers could completely disappear. When I reached the termination of the trail, as close as you could safely get to the glacier face, I found the Singapore couple from the Fox Glacier! I snapped their picture for them and they snapped another picture of me that I deleted. These kind folks had offered throughout the glacier hike to snap pictures of me earlier that day but almost all were awful. The guide had snapped much better pictures for me. But I digress.

I decided that the main differences between glaciers in Iceland and glaciers in New Zealand is that New Zealand glaciers are way smaller and I can actually pronounce their names. A random glacier hiker I had met up on the Fox Glacier told me that there were over 3,000 glaciers in New Zealand; I think they use the term a bit liberally. But again, I digress. The Franz Josef hike was definitely a fantastic track. There were waterfalls galore running down the surrounding hillsides and you could see how the hillsides have crumbled apart with massive rock falls, again changing the landscapes. On my hike to the glacier, I had passed a woman in a Venezuela shirt; I took note of her because as I greeted with a quick “hello” as I do everyone I pass on the trail she said nothing and just seemed to give me a glare. But now on my way back, I was stopped admiring a waterfall that was right by the trail and she came up beside me, “It’s beautiful isn’t it?” I felt victorious in that this woman who had simply glared at me earlier was now being friendly. We spoke for a couple moments about the mesmerizing terrain around us and she suggested I climb across and have her take my picture under the waterfall. She had just done that herself. I surveyed the scene and realized that I could get across the stream connecting the waterfalls pretty easily and so I gladly accepted her suggestion and off I went. I laughed as I thought to myself what a clever way that would be to steal someone’s phone, suggest they scurry off to a waterfall. But Venezuela was not out to steal my phone, just out to share her joy with a fellow admirer of nature. As I finished my hike I pondered all the “interesting” hiking gear I’ve seen people wearing; I think the lady in an embroidered denim mini skirt on this trail takes the cake. And mind you, it was no longer warm, temperatures out there were in the 50s. But I guess she did look Scandinavian. Hmm.

With three more hours worth of afternoon hiking done I decided it was time to head back and enjoy home for the night. And I really didnt’ want to do the windy mountain road in dark.

During my afternoon hikes today I thought about how I had wanted to start writing a book this trip, a chapter a night. I’ve thought about that a lot leading up to this trip, trying to come up with ideas on what I could write about. I’m mad at myself for not starting that journey but at the same time, I don’t think there would be enough time in the day. Plus, I’m not a fiction writer, I need to write about my firsthand experiences. And so that leads to an autobiography. And lets get real; I’m not brave enough to open that door!

At this point I have made it about halfway down the West Coast! Tomorrow I stay in the town of Wanaka; I am excited as the “Hideway” I have there has a hot tub and I could really go for a good soak right about now. Tomorrow’s drive should be my last long haul drive of the day, a little over 3 hours. There are quite a few good hikes I wanted to attempt tomorrow so I need to mull through and map those and see what my priorities are. I can’t believe I have another four nights before I make it to the southernmost point of this island.

Oh, and I totally want my own helicopter now.