19th-25th February,
Sorry this is out of order and should have appeared before the post below!!! Still it's a tiring job this travelling lark, you know!
Lucy says....
Oh goodie it’s my turn to do the blog again…! I am so glad that Greg does this most of the time as it is very time consuming and with all the washing and cleaning and cooking I have to do as well as supervising the children when they are doing their school work I just don’t get the time…..!!
Travelling south from Greymouth we passed through remains of the Gold rush, there are lots of small towns or settlements that would have been much larger when gold was around.
We stopped at place called Mitchell’s Gully which was a mine that had been in the same family for 100 years or so and was now a museum. A rather “alternative” chap runs it now. We had a wander around, they used to use mercury to “absorb” the gold and then somehow evaporate the mercury to leave gold- beyond me. I think it was called alluvial gold mining.
We also visited an old shanty town museum and had a ride on a steam engine and had a go at gold panning, we all got some! It’s now in a little bottle.
Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are about 25km apart; they come down the mountainside to about 200m above sea level. Because of the glaciers, there are 2 small townships which are there mainly for tours and helicopters trips. So…well you have to have a go- I knew Greg wouldn’t be able to resist it!!
It says in our guide book- “Julie Andrews sung- The hills were alive with the sound of helicopters…!”
The weather was fine, so we walked from the car park to the bottom of the Franz Josef glacier kitted out with 3 layers, as advised, and carrying our crampons!
At the terminal moraine we all stopped and donned said crampons and stated up the steps that had been cut in the ice for us by the guide. Because we were the first group of the day she had to recut the steps. It wasn’t difficult, as I thought it would be, as there was a lot of hanging around while the steps were cut. It was cold though, the wind whistled down the glacier. If you have been to the ice cave at the Mer de Glace in Chamonix then there isn’t a comparison, however the ice formations were really different and the fact that you were walking across the glacier and up & down the crevasses was special. And I have never worn Crampons before!!
We spent about 2 hours on the ice in total and then walked back.
Greg was seduced into booking on to a helicopter flight for the next morning, it was going to be weather dependent.
Next morning it was too misty to go and after waiting for the next flight which was also too misty we moved on to Fox Glacier in the hope that it might be better down there. It wasn’t but might get better next day…
Next morning we had all systems go, climbed into the helicopter, Greg & Rowena managed to get the front seat! The flight went up the path of the glacier and we landed on the neve at the top for a short walk around then back again twirling from side to side- Yuk! The ice was a lovely blue colour and there were huge crevasses.
That night we all went for a run around L. Mattheson which has a lovely refection of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman. Primarily the run was and attempt to get away from the sandflies!!
We stayed in a café car park and awoke the next day to find a Japanese tourist bus parked about 6inches from us.
Travelled on down the coast and turned in land to Haast Pass, not very exciting, no view, but down to Lake Wanaka.
What a difference between the east & west side of the Southern Alps. The west being very green and the east, extremely dry and brown.
Finished my bit, it has taken me ages!!! (it’s now the 6.3.07)
Lucy says....
Oh goodie it’s my turn to do the blog again…! I am so glad that Greg does this most of the time as it is very time consuming and with all the washing and cleaning and cooking I have to do as well as supervising the children when they are doing their school work I just don’t get the time…..!!
Travelling south from Greymouth we passed through remains of the Gold rush, there are lots of small towns or settlements that would have been much larger when gold was around.
We stopped at place called Mitchell’s Gully which was a mine that had been in the same family for 100 years or so and was now a museum. A rather “alternative” chap runs it now. We had a wander around, they used to use mercury to “absorb” the gold and then somehow evaporate the mercury to leave gold- beyond me. I think it was called alluvial gold mining.
We also visited an old shanty town museum and had a ride on a steam engine and had a go at gold panning, we all got some! It’s now in a little bottle.
Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are about 25km apart; they come down the mountainside to about 200m above sea level. Because of the glaciers, there are 2 small townships which are there mainly for tours and helicopters trips. So…well you have to have a go- I knew Greg wouldn’t be able to resist it!!
It says in our guide book- “Julie Andrews sung- The hills were alive with the sound of helicopters…!”
The weather was fine, so we walked from the car park to the bottom of the Franz Josef glacier kitted out with 3 layers, as advised, and carrying our crampons!
At the terminal moraine we all stopped and donned said crampons and stated up the steps that had been cut in the ice for us by the guide. Because we were the first group of the day she had to recut the steps. It wasn’t difficult, as I thought it would be, as there was a lot of hanging around while the steps were cut. It was cold though, the wind whistled down the glacier. If you have been to the ice cave at the Mer de Glace in Chamonix then there isn’t a comparison, however the ice formations were really different and the fact that you were walking across the glacier and up & down the crevasses was special. And I have never worn Crampons before!!
We spent about 2 hours on the ice in total and then walked back.
Greg was seduced into booking on to a helicopter flight for the next morning, it was going to be weather dependent.
Next morning it was too misty to go and after waiting for the next flight which was also too misty we moved on to Fox Glacier in the hope that it might be better down there. It wasn’t but might get better next day…
Next morning we had all systems go, climbed into the helicopter, Greg & Rowena managed to get the front seat! The flight went up the path of the glacier and we landed on the neve at the top for a short walk around then back again twirling from side to side- Yuk! The ice was a lovely blue colour and there were huge crevasses.
That night we all went for a run around L. Mattheson which has a lovely refection of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman. Primarily the run was and attempt to get away from the sandflies!!
We stayed in a café car park and awoke the next day to find a Japanese tourist bus parked about 6inches from us.
Travelled on down the coast and turned in land to Haast Pass, not very exciting, no view, but down to Lake Wanaka.
What a difference between the east & west side of the Southern Alps. The west being very green and the east, extremely dry and brown.
Finished my bit, it has taken me ages!!! (it’s now the 6.3.07)
posted by greg and lucy | 12:08 AM
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