April 21, 22 The Glaciers! Franz Josef and Fox

April 21, 22  The Glaciers! Franz Josef and Fox

We woke up and had a leisurely breakfast before heading to the Wildlife Centre!  There we spent half of an hour by ourselves with two of the rarest of the five kiwi species (the Rowi).  This enclosure was open (just a small fence without glass above it) so we could really get a great look at the kiwi!  They also had an interesting information section on the glaciers.  Franz Josef was named after an Austro-Hungarian Emperor and Fox Glacier was named after a Prime Minister.  There are many, many smaller glaciers and lots of mountain ranges around here in Westland.  There are three places in the world where glaciers end right up in a rainforest, two are in NZ (the Fox and Franz Josef); the third is in Argentina.  It is pretty amazing, our room was surrounded on two sides by rainforest, yet we could see beautiful mountains and glaciers just beyond.  Some of the mountains are covered in thick rainforest vegetation, while others are barren and ice covered.  They get up to 55 meters of snow on the glaciers and 7 meters of rain in the rain forest.

We did several walks today, Peter’s Pool (named after a young boy who discovered it).  It had a lovely reflective view of the glacier.  We also did the Franz Josef Glacier view walk which led to a mountain view of the glacier, and the actual glacier walk which led you up as close as is safe to the glacier wall.  The first part of the walk is in the rainforest while the second part is an open and rocky plain that can flood in the rain!  We then played in the local park and explored the very small town of Franz Josef before turning in.  

Wildlife Centre Franz Josef-

home of Rowi Kiwi (no photos of kiwis allowed).

Peter's Pool-cool reflection

The bottom of the Franz Josef Glacier.

Waterfall on way to the bottom of the glacier.

The very bottom of the Franz Josef Glacier.

On April 22nd we woke up and quickly ate before heading over to the Alpine Adventure Centre for probably the coolest thing we have done on this long family adventure.  There we had an early morning helicopter flight over both the Fox and Franz Josef glacier.  We also saw Mount Cook as well as other spectacular views!  The coolest part was landing on the glacier and getting to throw some glacier snow and ice around!  The overall flight was forty minutes with ten minutes on the glacier itself!  We then checked out and started our very, very long journey back to Winton.  This was a longest trip in terms of time away from Winton and the greatest distance.  We are a little sad to leave, but excited to get back home.

The Franz Josef Glacier.

View from the helicopter.

Brody on the glacier.

The kids play on top of the glacier.

The family and the helicopter on the Franz Josef Glacier.

Dad and Tara on top of the world!

Tara is excited in the helicopter.

High above the clouds!

On the way back we stopped at Arrowtown (It reminded me of New England with all the fall colors and stood in sharp contrast to the relatively dry Wanaka, the rainforest around the glaciers, and the stark beauty of the glaciers themselves).  We also did the Roaring Billy Falls walk.

Roaring Billy Falls.

Tara points out a cool tree growing off the side of a larger tree.

Arrowtown's Autumn colors.