A trip to the 'eternal' ice

Hello everyone,

Today I explored the Franz Josef Glacier. It was an impressive natural experience, despite the fact that it has shrunk significantly in recent decades. I can imagine that a helicopter ride to the glacier would have been worth it, but I still need to save some money for that. Maybe when I'm rich and famous. ;)

This morning, I enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the hostel, as I mentioned before, it was included in the price. They served bread, two kinds of jam, peanut butter, butter, cornflakes, and milk. Not bad for a hostel breakfast. After getting fueled up, I strolled to the tourist information center to learn more about the different hikes that can be done here. Then, I walked around the small town, which seems to consist mostly of accommodations, tourist attractions, and souvenir shops. There's a small supermarket and a gas station that's 50 cents more expensive than the one in Hokitika. What a rip-off... Luckily, I filled up my tank yesterday.

After that, I got in the car and drove to the glacier car park. That's where my hike started. First, I walked to the glacier in the bright sunshine. The whole path used to be covered in ice centuries ago. The glacier actually reached all the way to the coast. I followed a river, went through a canyon, and finally arrived at the glacier, which peaked out from between the mountains. The closer I got, the bluer the ice became. Absolutely stunning. Along the way, I met two Thai girls who walked a part of the way with me and took lots of photos of me. When we reached the viewpoint where we could see the glacier in all its glory, even more photos were taken. The girls didn't understand the concept of having fun and went crazy with the snapping.

Just as we were getting ready to head back, it started raining. I packed away my camera, got my rain jacket out of the depths of my backpack, and put the rain cover on my backpack. But the two Thai girls were nowhere to be seen. Sadly, our newfound "friendship" ended in the rain. That's just how it goes sometimes. On the way back to the car park, I took a short detour to Sentinel Rock, an elevated viewpoint with a view of the glacier. It was already on my smart note even before the recommendations from the tourism office. And luckily, the rain had stopped by then. After a while, I took my camera out of the backpack again, a mistake as it turned out, because a minute later it started raining again. So I packed everything back up. The "view" from Sentinel Rock was quite disappointing as a nasty raincloud had settled in the valley, completely blocking the view of the glacier.

Back at the car park, I had to make a decision. The Thai girls had told me that the Fox Glacier was closed, and I had originally planned to visit it in the afternoon. Since that plan fell through, I decided to do a few more hikes in the Franz Josef Glacier Valley. So next, I followed the Douglas Walk, which also passed by Peters Pool. Shortly after the lake, a tree had fallen across the path. But that didn't stop me, I simply climbed over it. As it turned out later, I wasn't the only one who did that. From the Douglas Walk, you could also follow another trail, but it would have taken me 5 hours, which was too long for me. So I just walked to the bridge that crosses the river I had walked along earlier. After bravely crossing the wobbly bridge and taking some photos, I continued following the Douglas Walk. Along the way, I also encountered an incredibly cute puppy who only let me pass after I had given him enough pets. At the end of the Douglas Walk, I had the option to walk back to the car park or continue on the Lake Wombat Track to the lake of the same name. Since it was still relatively early in the afternoon, I decided to take this hike as well. After a while of uphill hiking and through another beautiful part of the rainforest, I reached the lake. It would have been a nice spot to have a picnic lunch, but unfortunately, that's when it started raining heavily again, so I headed back. In total, I hiked for 3 hours and 45 minutes in the valley today, covering about 14 km according to my step counter. The four hikes are supposed to take 4 hours and 20 minutes in total. So it seems like I kept quite a pace after finishing with all the glacier photos. After so much exercise, I had a relatively healthy lunch back at the hostel - a sandwich with jam, a kiwi, a banana, and an apple were sacrificed. And as I'm writing this, I'm also enjoying my granola bar. Later, I'll have bread with fried eggs and hopefully, the soup will be as delicious as it was yesterday.

I don't have any definite plans for the rest of the day yet. First, I'll write down my notes from the past few days, then cook, and then we'll see. Tomorrow, I'll pass by the Fox Glacier on my way to Haast, a small coastal town.

See you soon,

Your Jessi