Pacific

New Zealand: Fox Glacier and Wanaka 2

It fulfilled my image of a glacier. We drove to a nearby viewing area of Mt. Cook and then we were on the road again (this is our theme song, we sing it on a regular basis) headed to the town of Wanaka. We stopped in the town of Haast Junction for lunch and Matt mistakenly ordered a "whitebait" sandwich which turned out to be the world's most expensive fried egg sandwich.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued)

New Zealand

New Zealand: Fox Glacier and Wanaka

We didn't get up all that early this morning so I pretty much missed the best light for the glacier. Oh well. I didn't mind much because there is another glacier nearby that we were headed to: Fox Glacier. It was a short drive and we were able to walk about 45 min to the glacier terminal and this one was no disappointment- it was really cool (no pun intended). The glacier was an icy blue all round the top and there were huge spiky pieces of ice hanging everywhere.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued)

New Zealand Franz Josef glacier 3

It didn't look anything like the glaciers of Alaska that I had seen on the discovery channel and that, of course, was what I expected. It was obviously receding too, though the literature indicated that it recedes and advances alternately. In order for me to get the best light conditions for shooting, we would come back early in the morning. The local holiday park was very nice and new with views of Mt. Cook. We cooked up our favourite standby meal of beans, weenies and fried corn and made it an early night.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued)

New Zealand Franz Josef

We had lunch at a trendy little spot and got back on the road. We made it to Franz Josef around 4pm and headed straight for the visitor centre. We found out how to drive to the glacier (the trail to hike there was closed due to inclement weather, damn) and we were there by a quarter to 5. The light was fading fast so we hoofed it up to the best lookout and got our first glimpse of the glacier. It was pretty neat but I was kind of disappointed.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued)