There are two accessible glaciers to choose from and each shares its name with a village at their base. Our drive down from Greymouth first brought us to the village of Franz Josef Glacier. Over lunch we had our first glimpse of its namesake high above the village.
The 'thrumming' of helicopters was constant as they shuttled up and down the mountain like worker bees gathering nectar. Sightseers would generally be landed on the ice for a few minutes whilst heli hikers would be abandoned for a few hours to explore the ice with a guide. Apart from the general store and a few coffee shops and bars, the entire village economy is seemingly centered on scenic flights. It was at this time that we first felt the call of the mountain!
A further 20km brought us to the village of Fox Glacier; our base camp. On checking in we noticed that reception were selling sweets to raise funds for the local school. Inevitably these were Fox's Glacier Mints!
The weather was perfect but the forecast was for cloud. If we were going to go then immediately looked like a good option. Having secured a booking we walked up to the village to check in. It caused some amusement as we were individually weighed and then after our safety briefing it was on to the shuttle bus for the 3 minute ride to the helipad.
The terminal building resembled a farm house and the departure gate resembled a bench in the sunshine. We had only just sat down when our helicopter arrived and unloaded a group of heli hikers. We were selected from the back of the group and marshalled into the front seats next to the pilot. Our four fellow passengers shared the rear seat. Hooray; at last, an advantage for the little guy!
Our Helicopter
The flight was an awesome experience and our time on the glacier's snowfield was intoxicating. It had us grinning and laughing like someone who had never seen snow before. We certainly hadn't seen snow like this. Apparently it is called neve and results from repeated freezing and thawing. Whatever it is called, we just stumbled about in it like a pair of drunks and were both picking it up and shouting "look at this!"
Front Seat Views
Snowfield of Franz Josef
Back on Board
Bue Ice of Fox Glacier
Top of Fox Glacier
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