Fox Glacier South Track
Type: Out and Back
Time Spent: 2-3 hours
Distance: 6.8 km (4.2 miles)
Elevation change: 178 meters (approximately 583 feet)
Again we got up at 5 a.m. Yes, the entire trip we EVERYDAY woke up at 5 a.m. It was early, but not hard. Besides so many birds start singing at 4:30 a.m., so it was nice.
On this day we checked out another big glacier in the West. Due to the heavy rain and land slides from early December, the foot track was closed, but driving road was open for walking. Driving on the road was prohibited. When we were heading out, one guy was working on the road to clear up the land slide on the road. Some portions of the road was full of dirts and rocks from land slides. So only walkers could pass. The guy warned us better to hurry, because the heavy rain was going to come in the afternoon.
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| Fox Glacier |
Because a big rain was going to come, the clouds covered the higher portion of glacier. However, still the glacier was big. I felt that the cloud capped glacier was even emphasized its independency and strength. Somewhat it was like showing off their power to small human beings.
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| Moraine Walk |
On the way back we took some small detour of moraine walk. On this track we enjoyed rain forest where it used to be all glacier. There was no single person except for guys (now some joined the morning guy) working on track near the glacier. It was very nice.
As you can see in the left picture I learned how quickly glacier has been disappearing. There are two signs: glacier terminal 1750 AD and 1600 AD. Actually those signs are not far!!! The current glacier is far way back from those signs. Scary.
Then we came back to the entrance of road. Now the sign was put at the track entrance. "Track is closed" Wow. Lucky. We got up at 5, so something good came.
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| Bird! |
Next we drove a little and decided to do a little hike before the rain would come. We headed for Lake Gault. This is 8 km out and back, 3-5 hours. However, it took more time than we expected (and this is the New Zealand thing: always more time than estimate). So we decided to turn around at the half way. Since the heavy rain warning was on, we thought it was better safe than sorry. Instead we did a little nice walk around Lake Matheson. Near the Matheson, we saw a beautiful bird (picture above). It had greenish blue wings with red beak, and white belly. I wonder what the bird is called. Please let me know if you know the bird's name.
Soon after we finished hiking in mid-afternoon, the rain started. This day we decided to stay at a hostel. Only one day at hostel during the 1-month trip of camping. 1 bed X 2 persons is nearly equal of private room with 2 beds. So we got a private room. It was not so expensive, because still shower, toilets, and kitchen are shared. We also took an opportunity to have laundry. It was a half way of the trip, so it was nice to wash clothes. Yahhh. they were stinky.
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