Yesterday, we awoke early and went to town to join the Half Day Glacier Adventure. It turned out to be a half day very difficult hike with only a very little adventure. They issue you rain pants, boots, socks, a rain parka, and a fanny pack with crampons, which you need to walk on the ice. It was a bright sunny day, so we did not need the pants or the coat. I opted not to take the pants and never used the coat. The glacier was about 2 miles from where the bus let us off. The first half mile was on a path through the temperate rainforest and the last mile and a half was over a dry riverbed to the face of the glacier. There we put on our crampons and started the climb over the ice and moraine (dirt and gravel left by the glacier), until we reached the beginning of the climb over the glacier proper. The initial climb was very steep. The part that was ice was carved into steep steps that could be traversed by pulling on the rope that they had as a railing. Then walking up a mountain of gravel on a switchback trail. When we finally reached the top of that mountain, where the trek on the ice began, Irith was totally exhausted. She had to stop and rest and pant every few feet when we got near the top. I finally pushed her over the top and she decided that was enough for the day and waited there for us to get back from the rest of the hike. I then went on with the rest of the group. The guides had hacked steps out of the ice most places and by stomping with our crampons, we could make our way up out of crevices and up the ice face until we were on a plateau with a great view and a good way up the beginning part of the glacier. The full day adventure people kept on walking.
Then we had to go back down the way we came, which was another adventure. When we finally reached Irith again, at least four hours had passed from the start time. The female guide, who was very nice, let Irith hang on to her backpack as we made our way down the mountain. Once at the bottom, we had that 2 mile hike on level ground back to the bus. OY!! I won’t tell you about the distress I was in on that final walk, but I was extremely pleased to see toilets at the bus pick-up place. Enough said.
We then drove about 5.5 hours to our next night’s stay at Wanaka. We stopped at another glacier (the Fox Glacier) for a picture opportunity, stopped at a salmon farm for lunch, and otherwise just enjoyed the fabulous scenery of rainforest, mountains, plains, etc.
Today we drove about 4.5 hours. We made a side trip to the foot of Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand and hiked a half hour to a scenic point and then hiked back. It was incredibly beautiful, with hanging glaciers and a view of the mountain that looked as if a face was carved in it.
Among the pictures below is a rather unique bridge. South of Greymouth, the railroad tracks followed beside the roadway. Here, there are many bridges that are one lane and cars on either side have to wait for oncoming traffic to clear before proceeding on the one-lane bridge. There was one bridge, however, that was one-lane for cars and the train. The train track ran down the middle of the one-lane car bridge. The locals highly recommend that cars make way for the locomotive if it appears at the bridge when you do.
Tonight we are in Lake Tepako. We did our laundry, had pizza and killed a bottle of wine and staggered back to our room to get the laundry out of the drier and fall into bed. Tomorrow, back to Christchurch.
Roger
Car-Train Single Lane Bridge
Glacier Adventure
As High as We Get
Mt. Cook
Reflections on Mt. Cook
Face of Mt. Cook
Hanging Glaciers
Leaving Mt. Cook