Franz Joseph Glacier
Salamander
Fri 17 Dec 2010 07:14
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We had considered splashing out on a guided hike,
or even a heli trip to this glacier, but with a forecast of heavy rain and poor
visibility we decided to just splash through the puddles on the free path
and walk close to the face. Tourists who try to walk on the glacier alone can
die by falling into crevasses which can open suddenly. The last death was just a
week ago when a Korean tourist went on his own and it took 2 days before someone
noticed his car was still in the car park and three days to find his
body.
In 1939 tourists used to have to get in a boat and
row across a glacial lake dodging icebergs. The lake area is now a bed of rocks
and in the heavy rain we saw many rocks falling from the top of the glacier and
water gushing vigourously down the mountain sides. A beautiful if crowded
glacier.
  For anyone thinking of coming this way by car -
there is no petrol for 120km south of Fox glacier and petrol in Fox and Franz
towns was 208c and 218c respectively. In the next towns either way it was
200c/195c.
On our way to Westport we stopped at Punakaiki,
which is Maori for the spring where the rocks lie heaped up - a pretty accurate
description. These limestone layers sit like stacks of pancakes in surf and
surge where even on a calm day you feel the water heaving and breathing
under your feet. Another weird NZ geological phenomenon.
 How many animals can you see here?
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