Day 13: Franz Josef Glacier
Today took us over the top, yet again! Words cannot begin to express what we experienced. We woke up to clear skies and great weather – a perfect day for our tour…
We signed in, got outfitted with our gear, and… climbed into a helicopter (our first time ever)! The flight took us over the Franz Josef Glacier, one of the few glaciers in the world to exist amidst a rainforest! On the short flight, we saw a waterfall with a rainbow going across it and then, we landed on the glacier and got off the helicopter for our hike! Yup, as if our life couldn’t have gotten any more interesting, we hiked up a glacier! At first, it felt precarious (of course), but we soon got used to stomping through the ice with our cramps (spikes). We climbed into blue-ice glacier caves, heard the glacier breaking off all around us, hiked up to a view of a massive waterfall with yet another rainbow running across it, and drank the freshest water from little streams of melting ice running down the glacier, as pure and natural as water can get. We spent over 2 hours on the glacier walking through amazing naturally sculpted art made up of caverns and gigantic ridges before being picked up by the helicopter and deposited back on solid ground. The entire experience was so exhilarating, we were giddy for hours afterwards!
Right after the glacier hike, we had to get back into our car and drive all the way back to Christchurch (a 5-6 Hour drive) for our flight out of New Zealand tomorrow. This country is extremely catered to backpackers, so most places are quite casual and there are a lot of hitchhikers who spend months travelling the country. We picked up a hitchhiker – a young guy from the Netherlands who was going in our direction (more good karma) and he rode with us for about an hour or so. He seemed to have the same travel plans as us but he was doing it over 8 months! On the drive, we saw SO MANY rainbows, it was actually unreal. We actually lost count after we passed more than 10 of them – single rainbows, double rainbows, half rainbows, full rainbows, bright rich rainbows, fading rainbows… you name it, we saw it. We couldn’t believe our eyes. What a way to end our trip – what a way to spend our last day!
We dropped off our new Dutch friend at a town along the way, and continued our drive. We saw the sun set over the Tasman Sea, and drove through more mountains and valleys as the sky got darker and darker. And as if our day couldn’t get better, we even managed to see the endangered Kiwi bird running across the road in front of us just before the sun completely set! Wow! Our trip felt so complete! The rest of the drive was pretty precarious, though, because it was extremely dark, and the roads all zig-zag through mountains so none of them have streetlights. We also hit quite a few patches of extremely dense fog, during which we couldn’t see barely two feet in front of us, so we had to drive ridiculously slow to make sure we didn’t fall over the cliffs into the valleys below! Gladly, we made it safe and sound to Christchurch!
Unfortunately, Christchurch was hit with a massive earthquake a few months ago, with a slew of aftershocks – the latest having happened a few days ago – and so driving through the town (which was mostly closed) and seeing all the rubble was devastating. A very sad way to end the trip, but something that truly made us appreciate the fragility of the world we have made, and to respect nature even more. We checked into our hotel, grabbed a quick bite, and went back to try to get some sleep. We have a very early flight to Melbourne, Australia tomorrow morning.
We are going to miss New Zealand so much! After having started our trip off on such a high note, we don’t know how we’re going to feel in the next place. Hopefully we won’t spend too much time comparing things to NZ! The country and the people have been so good to us, and we are so thankful to have had the opportunity to spend two weeks here. Ah New Zealand, thank you so much! We will carry you with us forever.
Today took us over the top, yet again! Words cannot begin to express what we experienced. We woke up to clear skies and great weather – a perfect day for our tour…
We signed in, got outfitted with our gear, and… climbed into a helicopter (our first time ever)! The flight took us over the Franz Josef Glacier, one of the few glaciers in the world to exist amidst a rainforest! On the short flight, we saw a waterfall with a rainbow going across it and then, we landed on the glacier and got off the helicopter for our hike! Yup, as if our life couldn’t have gotten any more interesting, we hiked up a glacier! At first, it felt precarious (of course), but we soon got used to stomping through the ice with our cramps (spikes). We climbed into blue-ice glacier caves, heard the glacier breaking off all around us, hiked up to a view of a massive waterfall with yet another rainbow running across it, and drank the freshest water from little streams of melting ice running down the glacier, as pure and natural as water can get. We spent over 2 hours on the glacier walking through amazing naturally sculpted art made up of caverns and gigantic ridges before being picked up by the helicopter and deposited back on solid ground. The entire experience was so exhilarating, we were giddy for hours afterwards!
Right after the glacier hike, we had to get back into our car and drive all the way back to Christchurch (a 5-6 Hour drive) for our flight out of New Zealand tomorrow. This country is extremely catered to backpackers, so most places are quite casual and there are a lot of hitchhikers who spend months travelling the country. We picked up a hitchhiker – a young guy from the Netherlands who was going in our direction (more good karma) and he rode with us for about an hour or so. He seemed to have the same travel plans as us but he was doing it over 8 months! On the drive, we saw SO MANY rainbows, it was actually unreal. We actually lost count after we passed more than 10 of them – single rainbows, double rainbows, half rainbows, full rainbows, bright rich rainbows, fading rainbows… you name it, we saw it. We couldn’t believe our eyes. What a way to end our trip – what a way to spend our last day!
We dropped off our new Dutch friend at a town along the way, and continued our drive. We saw the sun set over the Tasman Sea, and drove through more mountains and valleys as the sky got darker and darker. And as if our day couldn’t get better, we even managed to see the endangered Kiwi bird running across the road in front of us just before the sun completely set! Wow! Our trip felt so complete! The rest of the drive was pretty precarious, though, because it was extremely dark, and the roads all zig-zag through mountains so none of them have streetlights. We also hit quite a few patches of extremely dense fog, during which we couldn’t see barely two feet in front of us, so we had to drive ridiculously slow to make sure we didn’t fall over the cliffs into the valleys below! Gladly, we made it safe and sound to Christchurch!
Unfortunately, Christchurch was hit with a massive earthquake a few months ago, with a slew of aftershocks – the latest having happened a few days ago – and so driving through the town (which was mostly closed) and seeing all the rubble was devastating. A very sad way to end the trip, but something that truly made us appreciate the fragility of the world we have made, and to respect nature even more. We checked into our hotel, grabbed a quick bite, and went back to try to get some sleep. We have a very early flight to Melbourne, Australia tomorrow morning.
We are going to miss New Zealand so much! After having started our trip off on such a high note, we don’t know how we’re going to feel in the next place. Hopefully we won’t spend too much time comparing things to NZ! The country and the people have been so good to us, and we are so thankful to have had the opportunity to spend two weeks here. Ah New Zealand, thank you so much! We will carry you with us forever.
Franz Josef Glacier (can you spot the group of 9 hikers?)
On the glacier and under a glacier!
Double rainbow... the first of countless rainbows on our drive
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