Mar 8 – Fox Glacier, To Pancake Rocks

View Larger Map

Today we wandered into town to see what our options were to see the glaciers and mountains in the National Park. Having the NZ dollar being worth $0.65 Canadian certainly made to the various tours available much more affordable in our eyes. We opted for a helicopter ride and hike of the Fox Glacier.

 

The view from the bottom of the glacier back out to the coast and the ocean.

Jennie and Annie got the front seats with the pilot on the way up.

Views up the glacier from the helicopter.

It took several trips to get everyone up there so we waited around. Note that little stream behind Jennie below.While she was doing some final adjustments the lens popped out of her glasses. It fell down into the stream and then into a small crevasse to be lost forever.

We all had crampons strapped to our boots and hiking poles with spikes on the end. We were warned not to go off by ourselves anywhere as it was quite dangerous with places to kill yourself everywhere. I doubt this kind of tour would have been offered in North America.

These ice bridges form as the upper glacier squeezes against the lower part and the upper crust buckles up.

Jennie took this amazing picture of a small, sunlit ice cave.

We had to be extra careful here as one misstep and it was a long way down.

Another group hiking off in the distance.

Coming back to get us.

Back down on the road, we headed north. It seemed weird to be hiking on a glacier in the morning and driving through what looked like a tropical rainforest in the afternoon.

We stopped at the beautiful wide beach for some lunch and a bit of stretching.

Our destination for the night was a place called Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks. We went out for a quick look and then decided to go have dinner and come back to watch the sunset.

 

After dinner we came back and stared over the ocean as the sun went down. This was one of the highlights of the trip.

There was a blowhole that would occasionally spout water as the waves crashed in.

Walking through a tunnel of trees on our way back.

We walked out onto the beach at our campground for a picture of the girls in the twilight.

An amazing day!