Travelogue

Lake Hawea along the way to Fox GlacierToday was going to be a very long driving day for us to get to Fox Glacier, where we had booked a Heli-Hiking tour with Fox Glacier Guiding for tomorrow morning. But more on that later. First we had to get there.

The drive from Queenstown to Fox Glacier was 6.5 hours, our longest driving day to date. However, we had planned a few breaks along the way.

The first hurdle was to get back to Wanaka without going over the crazy Crown Range road, which we had taken on our way down. Campervans are not even supposed to be on that road, but that is the way Google Maps had sent us. I hate when it does that.

Dune LakeInstead we took a slightly less scenic, but still very pretty, ride along Route 6 back to Wanaka. After Wanaka, the ride became even more scenic, tracing the western shores of Lake Hawea, where we had e-biked a few days ago.

Then Route 6 took us across the “The Neck,” which is the narrow strip of land 1 km wide that separates Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka. It’s also a scenic viewpoint with stunning views of both lakes.

Once across The Neck, we were now tracing the eastern shores of the northern part of Lake Wanaka.

The Tasman Sea!Continuing on, we passed through Makarora, the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park, which we unfortunately would not be visiting this trip.

After that, we turned west towards the coast, going over Haast Pass, one of the three main roads that cross the Southern Alps. Later on this trip, we would be crossing back across the Alps to Christchurch along Arthur’s Pass.

We had already been driving over 3 hours, so we stopped at Ship Creek, in the Tauparikaka Marine reserve.

Trailhead for Lake Metheson HikeThe name "Ship Creek" comes from the discovery of wreckage from the SS Schomberg, a clipper ship that wrecked, not here, but rather off the coast of Victoria, Australia, in 1855. However, pieces of the wreckage drifted all the way across the Tasman Sea from Australia and washed up on what is now called Ship Creek.

We decided to stretch our legs on the Dune Lake Walk, which starts from the Ship Creek visitor shelter. From there, it follows a boardwalk behind the dunes through a beautiful section of wind-stunted coastal rainforest before coming to a platform looking over Dune Lake.

Lake Matheson HikeAfter continuing to another viewpoint above the beach, we headed down to the beach itself to experience closeup the pounding of the surf from the Tasman Sea.

From here, it was less than an hour and a half to go to Fox Glacier.

When we got to Fox Glacier, we stopped in town to see where we were supposed to meet for our heli-hike tour with Fox Glacier Guiding tomorrow morning and where we were supposed to park our campervan. No problem. There was a big lot right nearby.

Lake Matheson sans reflectionsWe then checked into the Fox Glacier Top 10 Holiday Park, which was less than a mile from Fox Glacier Guiding.

Rather than pull into our campsite, we drove 3 miles to the Lake Matheson Trailhead, one of the hikes on our to do list. Lake Matheson is known for its stunning reflections of Mount Cook, but that only occurs when the conditions are just right - still water and clear skies.

Unfortunately, today was very cloudy, so we couldn’t even see the real Mount Cook, nevermind its reflection. Still it was a very nice hike.

Helicopter 1, Passenger 1The next morning we headed over to Fox Glacier Guiding to make sure we could get a good parking space. We were early so walked across the street to the Cafe Neve for an eggs benedict breakfast - my New Zealand go-to.

Then we went back to Fox Glacier Guiding for our orientation, where we watched a movie on both helicopter and glacier safety. We were told that the helicopters could not fly through the clouds, so there was the very slight possibility that we would have to sleep on the glacier. Tents and sleeping bags would be provided. This, however, had not happened since 2019.

IIncoming helicopter quickly texted both my sons to tell them if they didn’t hear from me tonight, not to worry. I’m sleeping on the glacier. I sounded so cool.

After that, we were each given boots (crampons would be given out later when we were on the glacier), wool socks, weatherproof pants and jackets, hats, gloves, and a trekking pole.

There were 22 of us to be divided up into four helicopters, each of which could carry 6 passengers.

And off we go...When booking the trip, we had to give our weight. There was an individual weight restriction of 256 lbs, and an overall helicopter weight restriction of 1,050 lbs. So that’s why they wanted to know our weights when we booked the trip.

A lot of calculating was done to divide us into helicopters, and even what seats we would sit in. Our group of 6 was assigned to Helicopter 1. Since I was the lightweight, I got to sit up front with the pilot with one other girl, and specifically was told to sit in the window seat. Helicopter 1, Passenger 1. Fine with me. I was becoming cooler every minute.

Fox GlacierThe helicopter ride was relatively short, taking us below the clouds through a valley to the foot of 13-km long Fox Glacier. Along the way, we passed lovely Victoria Falls, which is the melt river from the hidden Victoria Glacier.

After landing, we followed our safety instructions as to how to exit the helicopter, which basically was common sense - keep head and appendages away from the blades.

We then gathered as a group on a set of benches where we were given our crampons and instructions as to how to put them on and how to best walk with them.

Our first ice caveWe also were offered a trekking pole, which I took for more stability.

As each of the remaining helicopters in our group came in, we were all instructed to get down on one knee, put our heads down, and cover our faces, because those chopper wings really created quite a wind.

Once all 4 helicopters had arrived and everyone had their crampons on, we split into two groups, each of which had their own guide.

Lolo in her ice caveOur guide was Campbell, and he sized me up right away as the one to keep an eye on. He was very diligent, always making sure I didn’t fall in a crevasse or something.

We then set out in a line behind Campbell, who told us that our landing spot was on a part of the glacier where its forces work hardest and that today we would explore some spectacular, brilliantly blue ice caves, arches, and tunnels.

Fox GlacierHowever, he did add that Fox Glacier is a very dynamic glacier, constantly changing, so he couldn’t be totally sure exactly what features we would see today.

The reason for its dynamism is that it is a temperate maritime glacier as opposed to a polar glacier. Maritime because it is located close to the Tasman Sea and temperate because its climate is relatively mild with large amounts of precipitation, often in the form of snow.

Therefore, the ice within Fox Glacier is at or near its melting point, in contrast to polar glaciers, which remain frozen year-round, making them more susceptible to rapid changes in their flow and shape.

New features appear all the time and old features disappear. So, we would see what we would see.

Lolo showing off her rope skillsThe guides were great. They would run ahead and scout out the terrain for its safety and stability, making sure there were no crevasses and ground that would give way.

In areas where we would descend into a cave or tunnel they would put in ice screws as anchors and then run a climbing rope through them for us to use as a sort of handrail to keep us from falling.

Glacial PoolProper placement of ice screws is critical and can only be safely done by an experienced glacier guide who must ensure that he chooses solid ice, angles the screw correctly, and ensures the screw is fully engaged and held in tight.

Herb was very familiar with the importance of good ice screw placement from his old ice climbing days about 40 years ago and saw that Campbell was checking and rechecking his screw placement.

I love Fox GlacierThey were definitely a necessity for climbing down into and back out of an ice cave.

After the ice caves, Campbell led us to a beautiful glacial pool with vibrantly blue water, so blue it was hard to believe it was natural and there is a scientific explanation for it that involves both physics and the properties of ice.

Glacial ice is very dense and has very few air bubbles. When sunlight enters the ice, the ice absorbs the longer wavelengths of light (red, orange, and yellow) but the shorter wavelengths (blue) penetrate deeper and then scatters. The deeper the sunlight travels into the ice, the more the other colors are absorbed, and the more intense the blue appears.

Back to the Mother ShipWhatever the explanation was, it was beautiful.

I couldn’t believe our 3 hours of glacier time was almost over. It had gone so quickly. Campbell led us back to the landing pad, where we took off our crampons and learned how to fold them like a burrito. My burrito looked more like an enchilada so Herb had to help.

Then Helicopter 1 arrived (our ride) and we boarded. I offered Passenger 2 my window seat and was told that everybody’s weight was probably analyzed for weight distribution and I still had to sit by the window. Good. I wanted to anyway. I was just being polite.

Braided River from Fox GlacierIt was a totally different view flying down from the glacier back to the town of Fox Glacier. Rather than watching the glacier get closer and closer, we were now getting a good aerial look at the braided pattern of runoff from the terminus of the glacier we had just left.

These braided rivers are formed from the high volume of sediment carried downstream by meltwater. The combination of high sediment load and variable flow results in the formation of shallow, interwoven channels, forming lovely patterns.

Before we knew it, we were back at the Fox Glacier Guiding building turning in our boots, socks, jacket, pants, etc.

Time to move on to the next stop along our journey up the South Island’s western coast - Hokitika, about 2 hours and 15 minutes away. We had quite an aggressive, but manageable, itinerary, and we were getting to see so much of this amazing country.