3/29/10 (franz josef glacier)

Franz Josef glacier-Lake Paringa

New Zealand hasn’t seized to amaze us. We joined the half-day Franz Josef glacier hike, which started with a 20-minute walk/hike to get to the glacier. The tour provided us boots and clamps, especially designed for glacier hikes, and a raincoat. Even from a far distance you could see and feel the awesomeness of the glacier. Franz Josef is the smaller of the two glaciers you can hike and the other one is Fox. What was more amazing was that the glacier had a lush green mountain on one side and a rocky mountain with beautiful waterfalls on the other side. It was as if you were looking at three completely different topographies right next to each other. As you get closer to the glacier you begin to notice the jaggedness of the glacier, which looks like a huge waterfall frozen in time.

Our tour guide, Pearl, carried this really cool ax to slice away at the glacier as we hiked up to pave our path. The clamps on our shoes helped stabilize us on the ice. There were deep crevices between sheets of ice and ice melting in other areas. We went through small ice tunnels, which we barely fit through. Jon started feeling a little claustrophobic since you feel like you are incased in ice by yourself since only one or two people can walk through at the same time in a single file line. Pearl even found a hidden tunnel and axed a hole on top of it so we can climb through it. People were skeptical to go through the hole since it seemed only a few inches wide and Jon was the first in line. People hoped he would make the hole bigger for everyone else but we were all able to fit through just fine. 

We hiked for about 2km/3 hours and had perfect weather. As we arrived back at base camp the rain started pouring. When we come back again we definitely would consider the helihike, which is a lot more expensive and entails a helicopter ride to the top portion of the glacier and you hike a full day down on the glacier. But our hike was still a cool experience and it’s not everyday you get to see a glacier.

After our glacier hike we were a bit tired so grabbed a bite at a local pub at Fox glacier and then headed down south to a free camper site that our friends, Pete and Danielle, told us about. We got to the park near Lake Paringa around 8pm and luckily found a spot since it seems everyone else also knew about it.

p.s. Jon is now considering being a glacier guide so he can also carry a cool looking ax and some of the male guides also wear tight butt hugging shorts. Shorts for glacier hiking…those crazy kiwis!

Like: glacier hiking, ax for glacier hiking, park that permits free camping