NZ : Fox's Glacier -

After the grey skies and rain of the previous day we were pleasantly surprised to wake up to crisp, clear blue skies and postcard worthy views.

The world can sometimes seem a very small place, and it certainly did that morning as we arrived at the Glacier Cafe to check in and saw Lizzie and Lawrence, a lovely couple who had studied dentistry at the University of Bristol with Jan. We sat next to the toasty fireplace, sipping coffee and catching up on their adventures around the Southern Hemisphere.

We formed an orderly queue and donned our icy weather gear including cramp ons, woolly mittens and marino socks before being loaded in to the bus to take us to the beginning of our glacier hike. After a short walk we rounded the corner and caught our first glimpse of the glacier.

It was a steep and tricky walk to the base of the glacier passing glacial springs along the way where we filled our bottles and had a refreshing cold drink as we went. On this upward climb we had to negotiate the Bluff track, aptly named due to the vertical drop hidden by shrubbery which could fool you in to thinking that you might have a soft landing if you tripped.  Kodak corner provided us with ample opportunity to take picture perfect snap shots of the valley below. It was here that out guide Steve gave us lesson in the recession of the glacier, identifying where the glacier had been previously and how much had been lost over time.

As we were walking the track there was a thunderous noise that caught our attention and drew our eye to what uSteve informed us was called 'Suicide Alley' where numerous huge boulders the size of small cars were hurtling down the mountainside toward the glacier below followed by a thick cloud of dust. Steve reassured us all that it was far enough away not to be hazardous, but was something to be aware of when ascending the glacier.

After a quick introduction to using cramp ons we took our first tentative steps out on to the ice and up the freshly pick-axed steps. We roamed around the glacier looking at ice caves and squeezing in to tight bright blue crevasses.  Often Steve would be leading the way swinging his pick axe to carve new steps out in to steeper areas of ice. We were frantically photographing in amazement and awe at such an abundance of natural beauty. Over the walkie talkie we were able to hear that the upper shelf of the glacier was now closed due to repetitive landslides and that a thick snow front was headed right for us. Shortly after our stop for lunch the heavens opened and the snow started floating down around us. We felt like we had stepped through the wardrobe in to Narnia.  The snow flurries slowed our passage across the ice but made for some lovely photographs of the winter wonderland.

After 6 hours of tramping around on the ice we were all thoroughly wet through and ready for a hot drink. We said a fond farewell to Lizzie and Laweence as we left for our night drive to Wanaka where we were to meet our next set of couchsurfing hosts.

The Nimble Fox glacier hike was an out of this world experience.

Peace and love,
Jan and Sooz.