GLACIERS!!!

Two of the most popular sights here in New Zealand are the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers that are nestled down the west coast of the South Island... and after a few hours drive in the rain, we were there. What is so unusual about these glaciers is that they are the only glaciers in the world surrounded by rain forest. When at the base, one can experience tropical weather (which we somehow managed not to get...) and then arctic temperatures at the top. The other fun and unusual fact is that because of this moisture around the glaciers, they are actually still growing via regular snowfall. So although each year they lose about 1' in height to melting, they also "grow" from the top at the same time. This is really rare - in fact, it may be the only place this happens... I can't remember if the guide said the only or one of only two where this happens. Through the compression of snow, oxygen is pushed out of the ice and the result is the blue appearance you see here.

I was still unwell at this point, but Chris spent 9 hours one day walking up the glacier with cramp-ons and an ice pick. He took several pictures and they're really worth seeing, but I wasn't there and decided to only retell what I experienced here in my blog. In perspective though, they only made it partially up the glacier, and I wanted the whole sha-bang.

The morning after his trek I surprised him with my Christmas present to him which was a helicopter ride over both glaciers and the surrounding areas. This checks yet another major to-do off the life list - we have never been in a helicopter before! So enjoy some pictures from the flight and from our snow top landing. There's also a picture from the cockpit and a couple of the awesome greenery around the base of the icy beasts. It's kind of unreal to think we have known been on glaciers, too. A c