We were up early because we’re scheduled to go on the heli hike today. It was forecast to rain last night but I think we just got some sprinkles. This morning it was overcast and we really didn’t think we were going, but we went to the climbing center anyway. Guess what . . . it was on!. During our briefing it got more and more cloudy and I kept thinking they would cancel, but they didn’t. They gave us socks, boots and rain pants. Then we drove over to the helicopter pad. Rick and I were in the third group to head up. The helicopter was vibrating a lot during the 10 minute ride to the glacier. I didn’t like it , but obviously we made it. Once up there we met our guide Flo and she showed us how to put on our crampons and how to walk in them. There were only six of us in the group. We grabbed a walking stick and were off.
Flo lead the way with her ice axe. Often there were steps up the ice and she would chip away at them to make them flatter. Other times she used the axe to break off ice that could have broken away as we walked. We went quite a way up the glacier. She showed us crevices and moulins, vertical shafts in the glacier which were formed by surface water percolating through a crack in the ice. There were quite a few stream flowing because it was pretty warm, right above freezing. We went into several ice caves. It was beautiful and amazing. We both really enjoyed it and were so glad we’d made it up. We walked around the ice for about three hours. Once we were used to the crampons it was pretty easy to move about. Of course we couldn’t wander on our own because we could fall into a crevice or a moulin. Here are some interesting facts
- It takes a snow flake that lands on the top of the glacier 50 years to reach the bottom.
- The glacier is moving 3-5 meters per year.
- Hiking on the glacier does not damage it but the helicopter does
- 32% of the land in New Zealand is designated as a national park
After exploring the ice we returned to the heli pad, but the clouds/fog had come in and the helicopter couldn’t fly up to get us. The company stores tents, sleeping bags, and food on the glacier in case people get stuck there. I believe last year people got stuck on the ice overnight five times. I was hoping we would get stuck but other people in our group had flights to catch so it was just as well that the helicopter arrived after a 15 minute wait.
Once back at the climbing center we had some lunch in the camper and then started our journey to Queenstown. It was raining by then and the road was very windy. Most of the views were obscured by clouds and fog. There were a lot of waterfalls along the way. Also there were a lot more sheep and lambs as we got closer to Queenstown. There were very few sheep and cattle on the west coast which is actually classified as a rain forest. We managed to get a couple of good pictures.
We spent the night in Queenstown. We didn’t get there until about 6:30, so when we pulled into our favorite company’s campground and it was full. We headed down the street (literally about 3 miles ) and found a spot at another campground. It made us appreciate our favorite company because this campground is wall to wall campers. Not very nice. We had dinner in the camper. That evening we did a little the planning for the next several days and booked a day cruise through Doubtful Sound.