Our next destination was the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers further south along the western coast. As we drove on, the rocky coastal cliffs and overcast weather reminded us a lot of the Oregon coast in the US Pacific Northwest, where we lived for 4 years.
We had a full day of driving between Nelson and Franz Josef Glacier, but we broke it up by making a few stops. One was at the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes.
The Pancake Rocks are limestone formations formed over 30 million years ago. This used to be the seabed, but it was thrust above the ocean by earthquakes. The layers of rock have been eroded over time by water, salt, and wind to form unusual "stacked pancake" looking columns. It's hard to see the detail in these photos, but they were quite interesting and unusual looking.
Unfortunately we were at the blowholes at low tide, so the spray was not very high. But we could still see some ocean water shooting through the rocks.
As we continued on towards Franz Josef, we stopped to admire the amazing color of the glacial-fed rivers that we passed.
Our main reason for stopping in this area was to visit the glaciers, but we also hiked at Lake Matheson. This lake is also called Mirror Lake because of the way the surrounding scenery reflects in the water when it is still. It was a bit too cloudy to get the famous reflection of Mount Cook in the water, but it was still a beautiful spot and hike.
The boys noticed these two insects mating, and we thoroughly invaded their privacy as we watched them closely. We've kept a running list of all the animals we've seen mating in the past months, and it's gotten quite long....these guys even made a cute heart shape as they did the deed.
The Moorhouses in the group tried hard to do a heli-hiking trip on Franz Josef, which would have dropped us off on the glacier for a couple of hours of ice hiking. Unfortunately, on both days the cloud cover was too low for helicopters to even fly around the glaciers, so our heli-hiking trip was ultimately cancelled. This was really the first time in our travels that the weather has impacted specific plans, so overall we've been quite lucky weather-wise. Instead, we hiked to the base of the Franz Josef Glacier, which is the more "glacier-looking" of the two (Fox Glacier being the other glacier in the area). As we started the hike, it was clear enough to see the glacier.
This glacial river looks c-o-l-d! Up close, we could see chunks of ice floating by.
Emmett found a chunk of ice on the path, so he was excited to "stand on the glacier".
There were beautiful waterfalls running down from the surrounding mountains.
We made it as close to the glacier as the path allowed.
The Franz Josef Glacier has receded at alarming rates in recent years. The entire area that we hiked used to be covered by ice, and the glacier has receded by 800 meters (about a 1/2 mile) since just 2008. The effects of global warming here are evident and alarming.
Back near the beginning of the hike, the cloud cover had moved in so much that you could no longer see the glacier (we're standing in the same spot as the first glacier picture above). Good thing we took pictures earlier!
We left Franz Josef on a completely clear morning to the sound of helicopters buzzing tourists up to and around the glaciers. While we didn't get our own helicopter ride in, we certainly appreciated the majestic beauty of the glaciers from the ground. Emmett and Colin are already planning their return trip to heli-hike one day (perhaps they'll bring Mom and Dad along)....
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