in a glacier world... (part two)

so again disappointed that we were in the exact same parking lot i could drive to myself. and then we walked up the same path. a comforting thought was that the two guides were good looking (mel would say at least one of them was hot) despite their mows (for mowvember) and it could only get better. and it did.

i feel the need to address mowvember since i dont believe i have mentioned it before. mowvember is a national holiday? in nx and in aussie where men officially get permission to grow porn-beards and sideburns and handlebar mustaches and everything else in the month of november to raise money for things like colon cancer and other men's issues. HILARIOUS. and it is sponsored by L&P (a delicious new zealand soda - the giant model one on the side of the road even had a giant mustache - and mustaches are printed on the labels of the bottles for the month) it really is an opportunity for any guy to try a new facial hair style with only a little less teasing than normal and for a good cause. and i must say most of the guys i have seen have been growing some skanky/pornesque mows that are not normal for high society - and they look damn good. sadly mowvember is over and some opt to have mow-parties where mow-hoes (skankily dressed wives, gf, and friends) shave off the proudly grown facial hair.

anyway back to glaciers. we did eventually turn down a side path that said guided parties only (this would not discourage me if i was hiking by myself) and the adventure began with some 'ladders' and 'dont stop till you get past the rockslide' and 'make sure you always have one hand on the chain' and only '500 more steps' and then you were on the glacier. i mean we were gaining elevation and walking along side it as you were going... but it was a bit hard to admire when you were concentrating on not falling to your death. that's all i am saying. we filled our water bottles with glacial melt water and then strapped on the ole crampons and got on the ice. crampons is possibly the only word that rhymes with tampons and are basically spiky bits so you dont slip and slide on the glacier. and while that may sound like fun - stories of mile deep crevasses and getting squeezed to death by ice do not.

so glaciers are dirty. i knew that. they move massive bits of dirt and sand (read all of long island etc) but i thought seeing as i was a bit further from the moraine or terminal end of the glacier it would be more blue and white.. and parts of it were, but a lot of it was gray. and it was still beautiful.

the first bit of the walk was all on carved step through canyons and over hills... that did not stop jerm and simon from mightily swinging their pickaxes to make sure the stairs were clear for us (they were already, i think they just like swinging them) and then we reached the area where the half day hikes end and then we kind of just went. where it was steep and slick, jerm and simon cut us little steps and we practiced using our crampons. it was neat. i thou roughly enjoyed it. i even climbed in a moulin to have my picture taken (a round hole in the ice formed by rushing water - some of them go straight down to the bottom of the glacier - this one did not). alot of the ice was beautiful blue and i dont think my pictures really do it justice. but i have only looked at them on the little screen of my camera so i will see tomorrow when i have a bit more time.

so we tramped around on the ice for 5ish hours.. enough time to appreciate how big it was, how at any moment you could fall to your death (simon reminded us many times), and how glacial ice was the best for drinking whiskey (thank you germ), and how cold it is, and just hear it drip drip drip melting all day long. we even got free glacial flour (fine grained mud) to use as facials. a pommy rubbed it all over his face and he became our tribal leader and made all the important decisions about where our group was going... hilarious... you had to be there. and even funnier when a whole group of japanese tourists wanted to take his picture or have a photo with him. this is especially funny if you know anything about japanese tourists and how they take a million pictures of mundane things. imagine how many photos they take of exciting things like glaciers. i took at least 100.

so that was glacier day number one on fox glacier (which used to be named something else but some nz prime minister liked it and renamed it after himself - watch out world... junkets something or rother will be next!)

the next day i walked up to the face of the franz josef glacier (kelley - named after an important prince or something in austria i think). this glacier is bigger...but i learned their day walks suck bc they actually start at the base of the glacier... so how far could you get in 2 hours before you had to come right back the way you came? plus it is more expensive for reasons unknown to me.

so you walk down the trail and through the till and cobbles and boulders and you get a rope fence with 6 warning signs. you look past the rope fence and you see heaps of people near the glacier that have obviously not heeded the signs. figuring i am practically an expert on glaciers (i am an earth science teacher and i hiked a glacier yesterday!) i went through the ropes to get a closer look bc the day before i had not actually looked at the edge or terminal face. fascinating (to me and maybe no one else) and i did almost get bonked in the head by two falling rocks (thank you english boys for saying heads up (i did take a group photo for them so karma was on my side)) so maybe i am not an expert... but it was still neat. and let me tell you from the base of both glaciers flows a substantial gray river - showing how much is melting from the glacier as a whole (gray bc of suspended rock dust). but still they have aerial photos and say that both glaciers are growing.

and that was my glacial adventuring. i have since moved further up the coast with a stop in hokitika to become a pounamou (maori greenstone or nz jade) expert, through arthur's pass and back into christchurch for a few days of r n r before laura and matt come travel a bit of the south island with me.