Thursday 9 April 2009

New Zealand - Fox Glacier

Heather:
We hiked on a glacier!! It was fab :0) It's called Fox Glacier, but apparently has nothing to do with the mints! The hardest bit was getting on to the glacier in the first place. We walked up the valley floor until we reached the foot of the glacier, then had to climb through the bush next to it so we could get on it from the side. There were over seven hundred dug-out steps to climb and we were wearing huge hob-nail boots, so it was like having feet of lead! There's recently been some rockfalls brought on by all the rain, so our safety briefing included being told "If I say run... Then RUN". Hmmm, not very reassuring.



It was worth it though. The weather was glorious, finally some sun :0) Once we got to the glacier we were given crampons to strap to our boots and our guide led the way. She was only little but seeing her swing that axe around you wouldn't want to mess with her!! We had to stomp our feet like teenagers having a strop to make sure we didn't slip and at times there were chains fixed to the ice to haul ourselves up with.

The ice looks clear, white and even blue in parts and it's really not possible to comprehend the scale of it. It looked massive but we could only see a tiny proportion of it. It's shape changes all the time and there were all kinds of formations and tunnels to explore. I nearly disappeared down a hole when I was hiding behind a rock having a wee and nearly slipped in the stream I created! It was a pretty fantastic feeling to be on top of a huge lump of ice, with rainforest to each side and a view out to sea. Nature is an incredible thing.



Ben:
Heathers photos are here and mine are here

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