Franz Josef Glacier & Queenstown

              A quick stop before starting down to Greymouth                                        Our rental car - ten years old but still going strong

At Greymouth, we stopped only long enough to pick up our rental car, which turned out to be a rather beat up, ten year old, Corolla. Not quite what we had expected , but the price had been much lower than all the other companies, so .......

So far (nine days later) it's still going strong !

We drove from Greymouth to Franz Josef Glacier and checked in to the Alpine Glacier Motel. The town wasn't much - it really only exists as a base to explore the glacier, but the mountains in the background were impressive.

Franz Josef Glacier main street - note the mountains behind.

As we didn't really have time to do much that day, we decided to see what all the fuss was about. We drove as far as we could and then walked until we could see the Glacier.

The Franz Josef Glacier - quite impressive, even from a distance.

As we had already planned a hike to the Glacier the next day, we didn't go any further.

We headed back to town for dinner and got into conversation with another American couple, Marci and Chris, who also were trying to decide if they should take a helicopter onto the glacier. We must have spent at least an hour comparing notes about our travel experiences.

December 22 - Franz Josef Glacier

Next morning, we still couldn't decide if we wanted to take a helicopter ride onto the Glacier. We ran into Marci and Chris again who were about to go flying and we had hoped to see them again later in the day to compare notes, but we never did.

In the end, we decided to wait until the next morning to take our flight, as we were already committed to a hike at 12:30. We used the morning to do some chores and some planning. At 12:30 on the dot, we checked in for our hike and our adventure began.

The half day Glacier Experience was described as " a fantastic introduction to the enthralling world of ice. Traversing spectacular tracks OF ONLY MODERATE DIFFICULTY (my caps) this experience is suitable for MOST AGILE PEOPLE". The next step up in difficulty was described as "adventurous", so we figured "moderate" should be fine. We were provided with coats, socks and boots AND CRAMPONS and were offered (but didn't take) overtrousers. So off we go - a ten minute bus ride to the start of the hike to the glacier. Of course, everyone else on the bus was younger than us, which should have given us a hint. The first part was a hike along the river bed and valley floor. Although it was rough, it wasn't hard walking and it was almost flat.

Rough track walk to the Glacier                                                             Beautiful waterfall on the walk to the Glacier

Then we put on our crampons and the hard work began. First we had to climb an ice face. Steps had been cut and there was a rope handrail, but still challenging.

          Climbing ice steps (note the steps and the hand rope)                                         On top of rockfall with the ice behind

Dean, our guide from Lancashire and Kristine his ice climbing pupil from Orlando

Then we started climbing THROUGH crevasses - twenty feel tall and VERY narrow. The only way through was sideways. Very challenging !

In the middle of a crevasse. Not a good time to get stuck.

And finally, to a flat part of the glacier where we could catch our breath - before doing it all again in reverse !

At the top (phew !) with the rest of the Glacier behind.

So we made it and lived to tell the tale, but I don't think either of us realized exactly what we were getting ourselves into ! I guess when you get to our age "moderate" means something different ! But still a great experience.

So by the time we got back to the hotel and had a quick rest, all we had the energy to do was grab dinner and straight to bed. We both slept well that night !

December 23 - Franz Josef Glacier to Queenstown

Next day we decided that having climbed up, over and THROUGH a glacier, we really didn't need to fly over one, so we set off for Queenstown, which was about a six hour drive away.

On the way out, we stopped briefly to take a look at the Fox Glacier, a few miles down the road. Impressive, but we had been there, done that (although no T-shirt !)

The Fox Glacier

The drive to Queenstown was very scenic, with mountains and lakes on all sides.

Spectacular scenery all the way

We arrived in Queenstown mid afternnon and checked into our hotel, The Central Ridge Boutique (ie: expensive) hotel on the edge of the city center. There were only thirteen rooms and (initially) they gave us the only one without a double tub, but we fixed THAT the next day. The room was really large with excellent views (of course !)

Our hotel room (Kris waiting to go out) and the views from our bed.

Once we had unpacked, we went out to scout the downtown area, which was about five minutes away. We were also checking out what we would do the next day and there's a lot to do in Queenstown. It started to rain and we didn't have rainjackets, so we bought snacks and ate dinner back at the hotel. However, before we could eat dinner, we took part in the nightly hotel ritual of wine and hors d'oevres which are served from six to seven. This gave us a chance every evening to meet our fellow guests, most of whom were English or American. By the time we had eaten the hotel's snacks and drunk their wine, we didn't really need dinner !

December 24 - Queenstown

This turned out to be a busy day. Our first event was the Shotover Jetboat ride. This had been recommended to us earlier as the best of the many jetboats around Queenstown. A Jetboat is a small high powered speedboat with no propellor. Instead, it is pushed through the water with high powered jets of water which can be steered. This makes it VERY manoeverable and also needs very little water to operate and of course, it also makes for a very exciting ride.

Before the ride and doing a 360 degree spin - we are in the middle second row from the back

Racing through the canyons - going REALLY close to the canyon walls

So lots of fun - like a rollercoaster ride, really, but very safe. A good start to the day, we thought.

We headed back into town and the first thing we saw was the gondola ride. It looked like a good place to see the town and to get a cup of coffee, so we headed up. Of course, the views were spectacular and I was intrigued by the parasailers who were using the hillside as a launching ramp.

The view from the top of the gondola ride - with parasailers. Note there are two people under the wing.

The parasailing office was just a few steps up from the restaurant and I couldn't resist ! I asked if I could go "now" and they said sure ! Kristine didn't seem to think it was quite her thing, so she headed back down the hill to meet me at the bottom. I was introduced to my pilot, Rene and we walked over to the launch pad. Setting up only took a few minutes, but then the wind changed and we couldn't launch. After waiting about ten minutes, Rene decided to move to another, higher launch site. He took the gear on a four wheel ATV and left me to walk up a VERY steep hill ! By the time I struggled up, he had the gear laid out and after a few minutes of waiting for the wind to settle, we were off !

Waiting to launch at the lower site and sailing like a bird. The smile was real !

The sensation is a little spooky at first - after all you ARE several thousand feet off the ground with nothing under you except a piece of nylon for a seat, which doesn't seem terribly substantial. After a few minutes, when you realize that you aren't about to crash and your pilot seems to know what he's doing, it's very exciting - a real thrill. To cut a long story short, we went VERY high (over 5,000 feet) and very long - probably nearer thirty minutes than the ten I had been promised, but Rene was having a good time and so was I, so we kept on going ! Finally, I guess we had to come down and we landed in the school playing field were Kristine was waiting, waiting, waiting......