Well, Wilson neglected to mention our computer mis-haps of last week in his last post, but I think it is worth noting. Basically, our hard drive decided it had been through enough and died last Monday night, but after a couple of days, we were up and running with a new one. The only problem is, however, that all of the photo files that were extracted from our old hard drive are corrupt. So, we don't have any photos from our actual trip to share with you, but we've tried to find a few on the Internet that depict our travels appropriately (because no one wants to read a blog without pictures).
Anyway, moving on with our journey. From Christchurch we drove all the way from the east coast to the west coast via a scenic mountain route called Arthur's Pass. The hairpin turns and steep inclines made me a little anxious in the dense fog and persistent rain, but Wilson and our little red Corolla hatchback delivered us to our destination at Fox Glacier safely. After checking in at our hotel, we drove into Westland National Park to see the glacier from its base. From the bottom, it was difficult to appreciate its immensity - it is 13 km long and up to 350 meters thick - but we were sure to get a better sense of it during our heli- hike the following morning.
After a short but magnificent helicopter flight over the Fox River Valley and the glacier itself, we landed on "Victoria Flat" about halfway up the glacier. We were outfitted with crampons and walking sticks, taught to walk on the ice, and then we were off with our glacier guide for a hike. We observed quickly that the glacier guide really had no plan for our journey - in fact, he hadn't been up on the glacier for several weeks, so he would just spot an interesting ice formation and go for it. Apparently the surface of the glacier changes so quickly that a certain formation that existed one day might not be there the next. So we tramped along in his path (some much faster than others) in order to crawl through an ice cave or view a "moulin," a deep and narrow crevasse formed by surface water. After a couple of hours, we hopped back into the helicopter for our flight down, and upon landing, we agreed that it was one of the most incredible things we had ever done.
We couldn't miss the opportunity to visit Lake Matheson near the Fox Glacier township, so we made our way there for lunch and a bush walk through the rainforest. Lake Matheson (below) was formed as Fox Glacier retreated and the climate warmed, and on a clear day it provides a beautiful reflection of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman, the highest peaks in New Zealand. From Lake Matheson, we proceeded south toward Wanaka, stopping at Thunder Creek Falls, where we met several recent graduates of SEC schools, including Georgia, Ole Miss, and Auburn. As you can imagine, a War Eagle moment ensued - and it was much cooler than that one in the Birmingham Airport.
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