Fox Glacier
Marita3
Mark & Helen Syrett
Fri 2 Jan 2015 19:48
| 43:26.964S 169:58.186E Friday 2 January When we went to bed the sand flies were arriving in squadrons and hammering on the outside of the Mighty’s windows and although we had secured all openings they were still getting in and attacking us. We think it was true British blood they had scented! We had a killing session but were outnumbered so went to bed and secured ourselves under the duvet, but to no avail. During the night limbs had obviously appeared above the parapet and the flies took full advantage. It is only the female flies that bite and in fact it is a cut into into the skin rather than a bite—actually quite painful and then very irritating. Apart from spraying on Deet suggested prevention methods include eating garlic or drinking tea with a spoonful of kerosene in it. At first light we had a clean up of all the dead bodies, swatted some more and discovered our blood in a few; if we had a DNA test kit we are sure we could have proved that it came from us. We decided not to hang around as even going out of the Mighty to turn the gas on meant a further invasion. We left immediately without breakfast. We followed Route 6 northwards through some very isolated country  and stopped to make a cup of coffee and have a bacon sandwich on the edge of Lake Paringa—more sandflies!  Then on to Fox Glacier and a 30 minute walk to within 200 metres of the foot of the glacier.   There were warning signs about rock falls and ice flows  but accidents obviously do happen  and as we walked back down there was a large number of ice blocks floating down the river from below the glacier. Although we did not see it happen a ‘fin’ of ice must have broken off the glacier  We then went into the village of Fox Glacier, the first community we had seen for about for about 100 km. This was the centre for booking helicopter flights over and onto the glaciers and around Mount Cook. After lunch we went out to Lake Matheson and tramped the 90 minute walk around the lake, well known for being able to see Mount Cook and it’s reflection in the lake—on a good day! The cloud lifted just enough to see the summit and there was a bit of a reflection  another well laid out walk with information boards and viewing platforms.  |