Saturday, 01.02., Tasman Lake and Glacier Tour

So today is our third attempt to do the glacier tour.

And today it works - we do the glacier tour with a speedboat on Tasman Lake and Glacier. First we drive by bus and our guide tells us a lot about the glacier and the lake. The ice floes that are already floating in the lake are about 300 to 500 years old. The lake itself is only 30 years old. That's how fast the glacier has shrunk and it is melting faster and faster.

We continue on foot and with impressive views of the fields of Pelennor (the plain before Minas Tirith - insider knowledge from Lord of the Rings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnCxuP_FqXQ) and soon we are at the landing stage. Now the life jackets are distributed and checked to see if they fit properly. We are divided into 4 boats and off we go!

Impressive how different the icebergs look. Our guide explains that the dark icebergs break off from the surface, but the glacier also 'calves' underwater. These icebergs emerge and are very bright, have trapped air bubbles and therefore appear bluish.

The closer we get to the glacier itself, the choppier the water becomes. Quite rough! But everything is fine.

On the return trip to the landing stage, our guide really speeds up, the boat rushes over the waves and we get wet. That's probably her favorite part of the job! But it's also fun and really worth it.

After our lunch snack, we want to have coffee at the Astro Cafe. But today too, the road up is closed due to storm warning! So we have coffee and cake in Tekapo. And then a little walk on the planet path.

If the clouds disperse, we want to look at the starry sky!

But they don't disperse! But the blog is growing and Reinhard can publish it. Hooray!