November 16, 2017 - Glaciers

Today we drove to the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, just inland from the west coast of New Zealand.  First up was the Franz Josef Glacier, which was just a few minutes from our hotel in Franz Josepf.  We got a very early start and got started on the trail at 6:30 AM.  Ours was the only car in the parking lot, so we had the place to ourselves.  It is a pretty easy walk to the face of the glacier.  Unfortunately, as with most of the glaciers in the world, this one is retreating and has lost more than a mile in the last 10 years.  There was a sign driving up that stated, "Glacier was Here in 1780".  About a half mile further was another sign saying "glacier was here in 1938".  Today the glacier is a few miles from where it was in 1938.  So, it's retreating quickly right now.  Anyway, it was great to see it without the large crowds that would begin arriving in a few hours.  As we got closer the air temperature got colder and colder.  We felt some of the runoff water and it was COLD!

Three waterfalls at once on the trail to Franz Josef Glacier

Our first view of the glacier.  There were many nice waterfalls along the way.

Getting closer.  The temperature is dropping.  Glacier clearly in sight.

End of the line.  This is as close as you can get, unless you
take a helicopter that will take you further up to a safe landing
spot.  That is VERY expensive.  We did not do it.

4 years and look how much this glacier has retreated.

We got our early start because Cindy really wanted to take one of the most difficult glacier viewing hikes here in Glacier Country.  More than 3000 feet elevation gain, rough, raw, and not frequently traveled.  I told here I would try my best.  We left the Frans Josef Glacier and went back to our hotel to grab our belongings and check out.  Then, we drove 25 minutes to Fox Glacier.  We found the trail head and parked.  First thing we see is a warning sign about the toughness of the trail.  We proceed, and sure enough, this is not a maintained path.  It is rough and raw, with fallen trees and debris on the trail.  It is VERY steep with some sections almost vertical as you climb up tree roots.  After about 40 minutes of this I am realizing that I am in no condition to this for 6 or 7 more hours.  We turn around and head back down.  I guess I am just too old and not in the shape I used to be, because 10 years ago this would not have been that bad.  Now, it was tortuous.  This kind of hiking is just not for me anymore, unless I get in better shape.  Cindy could have easily gone a lot further.  On the plus side, had we completed it, we would have seen nothing as the glacier ended up in the clouds in a few hours.

When your trail starts with a warning, you know it's going to be tough.

Cindy playing Tarzan swinging from a jungle vine.

Starting to get tough.  Climbing up, and up, and up.

Then down, down, down.

And back up we go.  This trail was exhausting.

We still wanted to see Fox Glacier so we drove back to the main viewing area and took the relatively easy walk up to the Glacier.  Just like Franz Josef this glacier is also retreating.  Sad.  There isn't much left to see compared to about 10 years ago.  However, we were allowed to go closer to the glacier here than at Franz.  The don't allow people to go out to the glacier anymore because it just isn't safe and many tourists have been killed when tons of ice have fallen on them.

Fox Glacier has also retreated quite a bit....

Close up of the Fox Glacier.

Cindy was upset last year when we did not take our boat to Alaska.
She proclaimed "I'll never get to see a glacier".  Ha, she was wrong!

We grabbed a bite to eat in town and then headed south along the coast and eventually turned inland headed for a town named Wanaka.  There is a HUGE hike Cindy wants to do there (but Steve suggested).  We will see how that goes tomorrow.   On the way we stopped at a few interesting places.  One was Thunder Falls.  It was not thunderous, but it was quite nice.  The other location was called Blue Pools.  That was absolutely amazing!

Thunder Falls

Heading to Blue Pools.  Another suspension bridge.
There was one more suspension bridge on this trail

Amazing, clear, blue water.  It just doesn't look real in person.

Cindy commented that the water reminder her of the clear blue water we
experienced in much if Mexico.

And now for the crazy van pictures of the day:

November 15, 2017 - Hokitika

Hokitika is a cute little town on the coast, and is well known for their Jade shops.  We went into one large store and they make their jade jewelry right there on-site.  It was interesting to watch the people grinding the jade pieces into the intricate designs that become earrings and necklaces.

Cutting a slice of jade off a large stone.

Hand-grinding a piece of jade into a work of art.

An example of what they turn a slice of rock into.

Crazy "van of the day" picture #1

Crazy "van of the day" picture #2

There are a lot of one way bridges.  The sign shows which direction has to stop
and wait.  Bridges like this are everywhere.  A typical New Zealand RV.  You do
not see them any larger than this one.  

After wandering around town for a while on foot, we jumped in the car and headed out to Hokitika Gorge for a walk, and another suspension bridge.  We had seen some pictures of the river's water color and it just didn't look real.  It was intriguing enough to make us want to go check it out for ourselves.  Surprisingly, the pictures we saw were accurate.  Check out the water's color in our photos.

What a cool place.  Suspension bridge in the background.

It just doesn't look real....

A large group came in and did some "cliff" jumping into the turquoise water

Here is how a sign near the river described how to make the color:

      Ingredients: rock flour, melted glacier ice, river water

•  Make the rock flour by grinding down schist and greywacke into a fine powder.
•  Combine rock flour with a dash of melted ice and minerals from ancient glaciers.
•  Continuously add to river water.
•  The result is a gorgeous milky, turquoise-colored river.

Next we drove 90 minutes to the small town of Franz Josef Glacier.  Yes, there is a glacier here.  In fact, there are two, the other one is about 20 minutes away.  We took a hike up to an old mine shaft.  We were warned that there would be running water inside, so we switched to our water shoes.  It was a fairly easy hike to get there.  The tunnel is very long, and indeed water was flowing through it, and the occasional glow-worm on the ceiling.  The water was extremely cold, but we were expecting it because we are only a few miles from a glacier.

Entering the mine shaft

There goes Cindy into the darkness

Cindy spots a glow worm

A glow worm.  It emits a blue light from it's tail that attracts insects.  The insects
get tangled in the glow worms hanging tentacles.  The glow worm then eats the insect.

A moth has been trapped by the tentacles.  The glow worm is the skinny long
thing just above the dead moth.  The tentacles are hanging from the glow worm.

Exiting the cave.  You can see the water running across
the bottom.

We made it!

November 14, 2017 - Greymouth, New Zealand

Today was a day of several hikes, and a little history.  Our first stop today was at a historic site called Brunner Mine Site.  It is on the Greymouth River and there are several old buildings, plus a long suspension bridge over the river.  They had a very nice walk through the relics with signs describing what you were looking at.  There was an explosion and cave-in at this mine back in 1896 that killed 65 miners.  It was the worst mining accident in New Zealand's history.  This mine was primarily extracting fire-clay that was used to make bricks.  New Zealand had quite a gold rush in the 1800's and there were a lot of mines over the years, so this was a significant accident.

Our rental car in a parking lot for a cave.  The cave was muddy and slick, plus
we saw a big spider, so we didn't go very far inside.

Another funky van.....

A statue at the Brenner Mine Site. 

The Brenner Mine Site

The back side of the kilns where they fired the bricks.  This was from the 1880's

The front side of one of the kilns

Next up was a hike to a beautiful waterfall at Coal Creek.  It was a very easy walk that ended at a nice waterfall.

The very pretty waterfall at Coal Creek

A huge tree at Coal Creek Falls

We then went to Woods Creek which has a really interesting trail that leads you to multiple old mine shafts.  Once again my pocket flashlight proved indispensable.  That shafts were very long and branched off in a few places.  We went about as far back as you could in the shafts that were accessible.  There were other shafts there, but they were closed off or had too much standing water for us to proceed.

Looking back at the entrance to the mine shaft.

A narrow passage through a hillside. 

The other end of that passage way

Cindy checks out the rock formation.  I think they already
got the gold out of this one.

Another suspension bridge.  These are quite popular in
New Zealand.

And finally, we finished up our day stopping at a playground, and then walked on the beach behind our hotel.  We found tons of smooth white rocks and spent quite a while looking for the purest, smoothest ones.  We have a bog of rocks to bring home with us.  I hope my bag doesn't exceed the weight limit at the airport!

Looking for brilliant white rocks on the beach

Sunset on the beach.