Day 8: Franz Josef, New Zealand

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Franz Josef is an extremely small town on the west coast of the South Island in New Zealand. There is a main road in the town center, which is no longer than 500 meters I presume. Since our heli-hike tour was appointed at 1 in the afternoon, we could only spend sometime in the hostel and aimlessly wandered around this tiny town.

At 1 p.m., we promptly crossed to the opposite side of the main street and went inside the travel agency. A staff came greet us and did some introduction to us of this heli-hike tour. Then we were led to a small stock house next to the travel agency, where we were given all equipment that we would need for the tour. We chose our sizes of waterproof jacket and waterproof pants. When we finished dressing, it's time to wear the glacier boots and a pair of thick and rough socks. The last thing that was given to us was a bright red fanny pack. By the time we went out from the stock room, we already looked like a professional glacier hiker. 

After another brief instruction by the staff, we followed him to walk to the helicopter pad, which is conveniently located right behind the travel agency. The staff of the tour company didn't allow us to come close to the helicopter unless it was completely parked on the helipad, because the rotary wings could be dangerous to us.

The helicopter we were taking

To be honest, this is the second time for me to take helicopter. The first time of my helicopter ride took place in the Maldives, however, I don't recall any memory of it. Therefore, I was downright exhilarated this time as if it was my first-ever helicopter ride. After the helicopter took off, we were enchanted by the breathtaking scenery from this bird-eye perspective. From the coastal area, we slowly approached to the top of Franz Josef glacier. When the helicopter flew steadily across the white sea of the glacier underneath us, the feeling was simply unbelievable. It is truly an once in a life time experience. And I finally got to realize why this tour was that costly, yet it's admittedly worth every penny. 

Before landing on the glacier, the pilot did a really scary thing that he deliberately flew closer to the mountain. When we thought we were going to crash, he then changed the angle and we flew vertically down to the glacier. The speed wasn't slow at all, luckily he just did a few tricks. Otherwise, I would lose my voice while I was screaming my lung out.

Flying to Franz Josef Glacier on a helicopter

The top of the glacier

The helicopter dropped us on the top of the glacier and then took back some people to the town right away. Then the guide of our tour came greet us, including him, we had 4 person in total, the other one was a Brazilian guy. Following the instruction by the guide, we opened our fanny pack to take out the crampons and put them on. Actually, it wasn't easy, especially the ground was uneven. It became a test to our balance, which is obviously one of my weaknesses. After some difficult time struggling with the crampons, we were each given an ice ax.

Our glacier hike officially started once we got everything ready. We followed our guide to walk upwards to the first sight - an ice arch. There was a small ice cave next to it, from outside, we could clearly see the blue color of the ice. It intrigued us even more, nevertheless, the crampons were so hard to walk with. I felt very uncomfortable inside of the glacier boots. My heels were severely scraped every time I moved my feet on the ice, I suspected that there were already blisters inside. I tried to bear the pain and followed the guide, though I couldn't keep up with their pace. After a while, we arrived at our second ice cave, where we could just walk through without any climbing.

Our guide on the glacier

The small ice cave

Melting water

Inside the glacier - speechlessly marvelous

Then it came the third stop, an ice cave where we had to use our ice ax and climbed inside. The guide easily climbed to the top through the ice cave. Then followed the Brazilian, he could also make it except he did struggle for a while too. When my friend climbed, it seemed like there's no difficulty for her and she could get to the top effortlessly. It made me think it wouldn't be that hard, but I was totally naive to have that thought. With my super clumsy body, no matter how hard I tried, I felt like I was sliding back to where I started. Eventually, I used up all of my energy and of course, with my friend's extra help, I could then successfully climb to the top.

This was the one I spent so much time with

My clumsiness for reference

On the glacier, we just moved within a certain area. One thing was very interesting, the glacier itself made a lot of huge noises, which sounded like iceslides. Whereas we never saw it from our eyes, perhaps it happened on the other side of the glacier. Though the sound was loud enough to make us have goosebumps.

Anyway, the hike didn't just end there. We followed our guide to go to the fourth stop - somewhere-I-wasn't-allowed-to-climb. As I spent so much time in the previous ice cave, the guide came to me and said, "April, I don't think you can climb this one. Or maybe you can stay here and wait for us, we will come back anyway." I felt discouraged, but I didn't mind. If he thought I couldn't, then I couldn't.

The one I didn't try

The glacier's real look

Global warming

Melting glacier

Another water hole we saw on the glacier

Before we went back to the town, we had to wait for our helicopter to collect us. Nonetheless, the helicopter was late and after waiting for 15 minutes more, it was still nowhere to be seen. The Brazilian started to panic and asked some silly questions like 'What if the helicopter wouldn't come'. The guide immediately answered him that we would have to hike all the way down for 5 hours!!! Fortunately, the mouth of the Brazilian wasn't jinxed, the helicopter finally came and took us back to the town safely. When we returned all of the stuff to the travel company, we got on our car and drove to Greymouth in no time.

Our helicopter finally came~~~

Goodbye, Franz Josef~

Epilogue:
There's nothing special to write about on the last day, because it was just a boring driving day back to Christchurch. We arrived at Christchurch in the afternoon, had a lunch, shopped a bit, and then we drove to the airport to return our rental car. In the end, we stayed in the airport until checking-in for the flight back home.

Despite this trip was pretty short, I do love New Zealand very much. This country is full of natural wonders with minimal pollution. The lakes and the mountains are spectacular, that I won't feel bored if I look at them all day long. No wonder it is a popular country for people to immigrate and retire. If I have the money when I'm old, I will definitely buy a house in Queenstown and live there for the rest of my life.