Ice is cool.

gettin up close...wooowee
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Ok…enough of the stupid puns…but seriously, this ice is way cooler than that speck floating in your cocktail: this ice lives as a very large chunk, streaming through the mountains. but before we fully dive into the cold of my own glacier stories i must provide a proper preamble. New Zealand has such a range of incredible natural wonders that it denotes them as you drive along. For instance, in te anau a sign welcomes you into “the gateway to fiordland” and as you drive up the coast you find a sudden entrance into “glacier country”…this place really does have it all. As we drove in, the environment was ever changing. Tussock grasses and rock-exposed mountains gave way to green mountains covered in lush rainforest, with the tasman sea following us along the left…the sight of waves crashing and the smell of salt in the air reminded me of home. The amazing views graciously helped shift my attention from the mind-numbing commentary provided by our mic-happy bus driver. A very nice man who did have some informative things to say but when he rambled on for about 20 minutes (I kid you not) about the arrival and departure times of the coaches, the various uniforms of the bus companies I had had enough…more than enough as it turns out because when he must have run out of things to comment on (which I realized is actually impossible for this man) he reverted back to the time-table of the Intercity coaches and reviewed the whole frickin thing again! Buddy, I’d just like to sit back, stare out this window and zone into the beauty of your country without being informed of your uniform particulars and/or timetable specifics. We all managed to make it on board for this ride so I think we’ve got it. I had my headphones on full blast and could still unfortunately hear him droning on “…soo…at 5:45…now, it’s not 6…you must be out early blah blah…Did I mention that all our drivers wear ties yet?”. Anyone have a piece of fruit or small throwable item? Yeeah.

on the drive there...beautiful coast line
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Back to the glaciers! within this glacier country are two main villages, Fox and Franz Josef. And as you would expect, each has its own complementing glacier of the same respective name. First along the road heading north (the only road, mind you) was Fox Glacier Village. Upon arrival to the tiny spattering of tourist need driven stores and the glacier guide office that has a gigantic sign in font suspiciously akin to the Twentieth Century Fox logo, I made my way to the hostel (another one for the curious name bank: Ivory Towers. Huh…the building is a hideous yellow…yellow, not even muted yellow, or off-white…just yeeeellow. there were no towers to speak of…it’s actually a very flat set of old trailer-like complexes. and lastly, it’s a hostel for god’s sake: Ivory Towers….haha. where are you staying? Whyyy…in the ivory towers of course. Oooh. yes…it’s 5 ½ stars). Anyway….after I checked into ivory towers (ha) I upped and outfitted to see this massive river of ice. Access to the Fox glacier is only about a 10 minute drive by car but since all I have for transport are my own little legs I made a nice little trek out of it. as my butt had been plopped on that bus for half the day, it felt great to move my limbs in forward moving fashion, even if much of the walk was along the road,. The rainforest surrounding was enough to distract from the whishing cars that sped by. When I hit the first trail I figured I’d take it and started straight-off across an old suspension bridge that wiggled, wobbled and swayed as I carefully navigated across. The thing is not small…about 30 m across I’d say and only holds 5 people at a time if that says anything. On solid ground again i trekked on and up on a slight grade until i came to the first sight of the glacier whence upon i did a little skippy-step dance Wooooah…check that thing out! You see all the advertisements, postcards, etc with pictures of the glacier around the village but it looked so much more impressive in person. As things do i suppose…but it did take me by surprise…just the sheer size…wow. After that my pace quickened, anxious for closer view. I had to cross a few streams and one that could debatably be called a river, at which point i barely scampered from rock to rock, praying i wouldn’t slip and go cascading down the glacial “stream”. I ran the rest of the way to the lookout (as the view of the glacier had been blocked since that first lookout) and arrived panting to a blue and white angularly slashed piece of ice. It looked incredible. like its own world of tunnels, crevices, and mountains all unto its icy self. Really did look like another planet….and for us i guess it is kind of like that. I quickly tried to take it all in and appreciate the sight before acquiring a new festival of red, itchy bites…yes, the shadflies were on attack against my warm-blooded body….little bastards…(as i’ve not so fondly come to term them…among other things). to avoid this fate i was off again! lightly jogging down the mountain path, stoked on my first glacier sight, and when the rain started pelting down i just happily trekked back to the hostel wet and smiling…knowing a cup of tea and a biscuit awaited my arrival…this kiwi lifestyle had gotten into me. And what a lovely thing that is.