14 April 2015
Franz Joseph Glacier and Fox Glacier are the two most popular glaciers located in West Coast of South Island. Years back I did full day hike in Franz Joseph Glacier. This time I decided to do the Fox Glacier. Due to the moving glaciers and safety condition, both glaciers have stopped the full day hike. Heli-Hike is now the only option to step foot on the glaciers.
Heli-hike combines the excitement of walking on the glaciers with the thrill of helicopter flights. It is definitely more expensive (around NZ$ 425), but it provides bird's eye view over the glaciers, and save tourists' from hiking for whole day. This is better option specially for children and elderly.
We were informed on the day that it was a little bit windy which could affect the trip. We were given option to cancel the trip or continue our journey. We thought we were pretty fortunate to have a bright and sunny day finally. Hence, we decided to give it a shot. We were glad to make the right decision as the trip turned out to be awesome.
While waiting for other groups to arrive, we were instructed to squat with our arms over our heads facing away from the helicopter whenever it took off or landed, as ice chips go hurtling through the air in the updraft.
When all the groups were here, we started to gear up
All of us were split into groups of around 7 and guided by an instructor. Here we started our hike on the glacier.
Our instructor
I do feel Fox Glacier is better than Franz Joseph. Not only because the glacier here looked cleaner, also because the instructor added some excitement to the trip as we could squeeze through tight blue crevasses and slide through ice caves
Lake Matheson is well known for its reflected view of Aoraki/Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. This was my second visit here and yet to have a sight of the clear reflection.
The River Walk is a 1.8km return track which requires about 40min walking. The track brings you to a 70m long suspension bridge, built in 1929 at a cost of 1200 pounds
Fox Glacier Walk is a 2.6km return track which requires about 1 hour walking. We followed the track down past the landslide zone and crosses several small creek. The walk eventually brought us to within about 500 meters of the glacier terminal face.
It was our third walk of the day. I was exhausted and could hardly climb rocky slopes.
That's the terminal face of Fox Glacier, kind of disappointing. I on the other hand enjoyed the landslide zone more. The entire tracks took us about 2 hours eventually.
My dad and mum volunteered to cook today's dinner. It was my mum's first time cooking in New Zealand!!! Most of the nights in NZ I felt too tired to eat dinner, after driving and walking for the whole day.
You may be also interested in my previous journey on Franz Joseph Glacier
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