to Franz Josef Glacier

Christchurch to Franz Josef Glacier (Tue. Feb. 10)

Like in Rotorua, the plan is to leave the hotel in Christchurch just after breakfast at around 7:30 AM for the train station. Today the plan is to travel first by train across the TranzAlpine train route. Then at Arthurs Pass we leave the train and again get on the bus. The train trip should last about 2 1/2 hours or so. From there we will then go to Franz Josef Glacier. Today the weather is overcast with predicted rain.

We get on the train which is about 15 minutes from the hotel and as we leave, the country side around Christchurch (as I mentioned before) is completely flat. (Here is a picture of the whole group, except me-I'm taking the picture, on the train. What a happy group!) This part of the country has many tracts of land separated by hedges, fences, and/or roads. Again these farms are raising sheep, cattle, and the occasional ostrich or deer farm. Interestingly, there are many sheep here and a good many of them seem to have been sheered (I guess that would mean they've been de-fleeced).

Before we leave the plains for the mountains we pick up more passengers. There is an open car where the generator car is. The generator is in the center of the car and on either side of the generator the car has opened sides. Carmen and I stayed the whole trip through the mountains in this car. Of course there were a lot of other people there (in the way of course and you can see some of them in the pictures), but we made due.

The mountains are really very nice, but they would be even better with fewer cloud cover or even with some snow on them. While we are going through the mountains there is no snow on any of them, a little disappointing. Oh well that is the chance you take when on a trip like this. However, the sun is coming out and the clouds are breaking up. (For you LOTR fans these mountains were used in the sequence of the fire beacons to call for help. It is difficult to determine the location of the mountains that were used from the ground, no snow, and because of the angle, but these are the mountains.) There are so many pictures of these fantastic mountains that it is hard to choose just one.

At Arthur's Pass we get off the train and get back on the bus. We are now heading to Hokitika. This town is on the west side of the South Island and on the Tasman Sea. (So that means we have now touched another large body of water.) The beach here is interesting, there are many flat rocks on the beach, nice for skimming. There are also a good many drift wood that reminds me of the beaches in Oregon (USA). Some of the wood, stones, and other debris has been used to make various sculptures; some very weird, some quite pleasant. Also as you can see from the picture driftwood was used to spell the tow name. Someone was artistic.

We continue south west heading for Franz Josef and the glacier. This section of the road (actually all of the roads since getting off the train) is very windy. It is a good thing Carmen is sitting up front, because she gets motion sick. She is also taking Dramamine. So far so good. The scenery along the road is really nice. We are heading into the tropical rain forest side of New Zealand. The clouds seem to be building and we are getting less and less visibility.

By the time we get to the Franz Josef glacier we are not so lucky, there is a drizzle and the clouds are getting closer and closer to the ground. From the parking lot, there is a trail that brings you to the river and glacier. About a third of the way along this trail another trail cuts off to the left and climbs, steeply I might add, to a higher elevated viewing point. Carmen and I head out on this trail first. We get a couple of pictures, but the fog is growing more and more dense and the view is quite flat to really get a good picture, but we'll see.

After seeing this view and taking some pictures, we head down to take the other trail. We get to the end of the trail and there is a river (and rocky bed) and the glacier in the distance. Carmen and I head out towards the glacier, although we do not have much time to spend here because our stop time here is really short. Carmen goes further than I do to get a better angle of the waterfall that is off to the side. I go down by the water. Man that water is ice cold!

We leave the glacier and head to our hotel. We are having dinner here at the hotel tonight. By the way Jon, tonight with my meal, I had a Monteiths Golden Larger - mmm, good.

I realize that I will not get to post this on time and it will be late. Until later.