🙂 Amazing to see glaciers!
🙁 These glaciers are rapidly retreating 🙁
We woke up early and tumble dried Trent’s bag again. Set off towards Fox Glacier and picked up a hitchhiker…he had an unusual name – Marcello and was from Argentina – the same name that we had read in the Kepler Trek dated 18 Jul 95 – and it was the same chap! LOL. He has done every one of the NZ walking treks on his own! Arrived at Fox Glacier and walked to the terminal face … an older couple were worried that it was very far … to which Marcello replied, “Good!”….it was not that far at all…but spectacular! Huge slabs of ice dripping – amazing sight to behold. This glacier has retreated 800m since 2008! Fed by four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier / Te Moeka o Tuawe is longer and faster moving than the Franz Josef Glacier / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere. Its terminal face is just five kilometres from the village.
Went for a drink at a lovely pub with an open fire – very cosy. Invited Marcello for dinner in our campervan, Stayed at Glow Worm Holiday park which was expensive at $22 per site. Made a delicious curry – Marcello ate 3 helpings – he was obviously hungry – bless!!
We were up a little later than we would have liked but set off to Lake Mathieson and did a stunning circuit walk with stunning mountain views. Lake Matheson is famous for its mirror-like reflections of New Zealand’s highest peaks, on a clear day. At night you can walk along a bush path to a fern grotto to see glow worms on show.
Drove to the Franz Josef Glacier which is an amazing natural wonder, surrounded by breathtaking natural scenery. The track was closed due to flooding of the river so we made lunch and then headed off via the trail to Robert’s Point which is a 5 hour return walk. It was an extremely demanding track. I got cold feet at the staircase as it was very icy. Paul blackmailed me and Trent cried so I gave in. Had some food to calm down and then I crossed it – terrifying! Relieved it was over … only to be confronted by a rope suspension bridge which was highly unstable!! We met some Germans who said, “only 1 more hour” but American girls said, “30mins” … It did take 1 hour … – well worth it! Up in the snowline but great views. The glacier advances 1-1.5m – 5m per day! (that was then …sadly it now in 2023 it has retreated and is now 3Kms shorter than it was 100 years ago!). Roberts use to overlook the terminal face but now overlooks blue ice. Saw and heard a dramatic avalanche – scary!! Took excellent photos – great to see the glacier from this perspective – who needs expensive helicopter flights?! The sun slipped over the horizon and I got a bit nervous about heading down that icy ladder … the rope ladder was better than the first time … we chose to go down the side on the steep moraine slope rather than the ladder – steep and rocky but much better! Had to cross the river which was extremely cold and wet. A lovely NZ couple gave us a lift back to our campervan which was another 2Kms away! Parked next to Lake Mapourika and ate left over curry – very beautiful. Weary but happy and tired from exertion so slept very well!
Lake Mapourika is situated in the Franz Josef Glacier valley. It was created approximately 14,000 years ago as the glacier retreated after a significant ice age. Known as a Kettle Lake, it’s the largest mirror lake in the South Westland region.
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