Franz Joseph, New ZealandMay 12, 2007
The sun was shining brightly when we woke up this morning, a completely different day than yesterday. We took showers, brewed coffee, made a few slices of toast with peanut butter and honey for breakfast, and immediately hit the road towards Franz Joseph; a small village in Glacier County, about 2 ½ hours south from Greymouth.
Shortly after we left Greymouth we had views of snow capped mountains, freshly dusted with
snow from yesterday’s storm. Again, when we thought we couldn’t see anything more beautiful, we did. The curvy road led us through green pastures of grazing sheep and deer, dense fern groves, lush tropical vegetation, and then up through alpine forests, all before taking us safely to rest in the village of Franz Joseph. We quickly found a place to stay, unpacked the Corolla, and set off to explore the trails around the glacier. The trails were as first-class as the rest of the trails in New Zealand, full of birds and luscious fauna, except this trail lead us to our first sighting of a glacier in New Zealand.
We came to a clearing in the moss covered forest where two benches were perfectly placed,
allowing visitors to admire the glacier from afar. What we witnessed in the clearing was more than a view of the glacier. Thanks to a small pond and the location of the sun, we were treated to a perfect reflection of the mountain range, waterfalls and glacier right at our feet. It was a magical site and realized we were lucky to see the image since it disappeared 20 minutes later when the sun changed direction and was covered in fog and clouds.Next, we took a trail to the base of the glacier. As we approached the massive mountain of ice it grew increasingly colder. It was as if the temperature was dropping 2-3 degrees every 100 meters as we neared. We looked up into the deep crevasses of ice that appeared to be small ripples when we stood at the pond moments earlier. We admired the beauty at the base while small groups of ice hikers made their way down the face of ice. In tight formation, the tiny hikers looked like ants slowly crawling back to their queen; at the same time providing us perspective to the sheer size of the glacier.
The air was getting colder and we realized the sun would be setting soon, so we quickly made our way back to the trail head, occasionally looking over our shoulders capturing a glimpse of the last rays of sun reflecting across the mountain of white ice.
The rain might have darkened things a little yesterday, but the sun definitely brightened them today.
1 comment:
Wow, sounds just beautiful. You both are living a dream...Enjoy!
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