Woke to not terribly nice weather the morning of our Heli-Hike. Weather forcast assured us that it would clear by lunch time and that was fairly correct. We fare welled Kate this morning – the awesome foursome is now a terror trio!! Bec and I did the Heli hike and it would come a close second behind skydiving on the list of things done in NZ. Caught the helicopter onto the glacier – had never been in one before and quite enjoyed the ride. It was wet and windy in the township but up on the glacier there was blue sky and sunshine. It was a specky ride and we landed on the actual glacier. Got fitted with our crampons and then spent the next two and a half hours exploring the glacier. Saw some amazing things – crevasses, arches, caves. Got to go inside a couple of caves – very wet and slippery. Hopefully some nice pics. Our guide had been telling us about the arches and how they form and the ones we were looking at were getting pretty thin as the glacier moves over them. Next we knew there was a big crack and one of the arches broke and a 900kg block of glacial ice came tumbling down towards the group. Luckily Bec and I were already out of the way! Was an absolutely amazing thing to do. Some Fox facts: The Fox Glacier moves on average, 1-2m a day. It melts at a rate of 200ml / 24hrs. Because of the droughts in Australia, there is more rain in NZ (crazy climate change). More rain = more snow = glacier always being ‘fed’. It doesn’t snow on the glacier, that is why it is dirty, but the snow from the mountains above the glacier has to escape somewhere which means it feeds the Fox Glacier. Interesting. Totally knackered by the time we got back but after tea we jumped in the car and went to Lake Matheson (5mins down the road). A lake, which on a good day, has a postcard view and reflections of Mt Cook, Mt Tasman and other bits and pieces. Wasn’t too keen to go as I was really tired but made myself do it. It was a 40 minute walk to “Reflection Island. It was very cloudy but a hint of blue in the sky made us hang around and glad we did because it cleared and we got some stunning reflections and hopefully some stunning photos. By the time it came to walk out I really had to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other!!
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