riverECHO

My dad and Fran arrived in Queenstown last Thursday night and it has been go go go since then. I had a wonderful 28th birthday and I thank all of those who sent me e-cards (especially from my little sister who sent me a talking squirrel) and notes on facebook . . . oh, what would we do without the internets. We spent the day making plans for the following week together, leisurely exploring Queenstown, on a short hike that I had remembered as flat but was very much up and down, followed by a beautiful dinner and delicious sangria at a new restaurant for us called The Bathhouse, along Lake Wakatipu’s waterfront.

On Valentine’s Day, the following morning, we loaded up the Holden to head west over Haast Pass to visit Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. BJ and I had quickly visited the area on our initial drive down to Queenstown but only hiked the 5 minutes to the lookout at Franz Joseph and missed Fox Glacier entirely because it was closed . . . we didn’t realize glaciers closed and opened for business. My dad and Fran had brought the good weather with them and as we made our way over Haast Pass we stopped the car at pretty much every attraction including the Blue (actually quite green) Pools and Thunder Falls. When we arrived in the town of Franz Joseph we checked in to a Top 10 Holiday Park where my dad and Fran had reserved a room and we pitched our tent. Because of all the backpackers and campers in New Zealand, these holiday parks are quite the fad. They have a variety of rooms, campsites, huge kitchens, and usually a lounge with games, TV and internet. They are a bit more expensive option for setting up a tent but a much cheaper option for someone looking for a bed who doesn’t want to share a dorm room with a bunch of young backpackers. We had dinner in town and then quickly made our way to the Franz Joseph Hot Pools . . . a great business idea for a place where it rains so often. We have a great buddha-like photo of my dad in the pools, but had to remove this as requested. There were three pools, each a different temperature, surrounded by lush native rainforest foliage. Despite the 80’s decor of a neon wall that faded through different colors and was supposed to look like a glacier, the pools were quite peaceful.

We were Franz Joseph glacier bound the following morning. We had contemplated hiring a guide for the walk but since we weren’t planning on actually walking on the ice we thought, and correctly assumed, that it would be a waste of money. The trail follows an almost paved walkway for about 20 minutes before opening up to the wide river valley below the glacier. The “proceed at your own risk” trail continues on along the river bed for another hour before reaching the toe of the glacier. The glacier looked huge at the lookout but not until we we were standing below it did we realize its scale. We watched as a few groups put crampons on and began hiking up the ice steps that were perfectly carved out of the glacier by their guides. Next stop . . . Fox Glacier. This time the glacier was open but the minute we turned on to the dirt access road it began to rain and we decided to wait until the next morning to see it and head back to town to watch a film called “Flowing West” made by a local helicopter company. The imagery was beautiful but they sped all the scenes up to give it an “artistic” effect. It, and the horrible music, just made me dizzy. We spent the rest of the evening cooking dinner and playing a few heated games of hearts and gin rummy back at the holiday park.

Just as we planned, we woke up the next morning to sunny skies. We didn’t hike to Fox Glacier but took a ton of photos at a couple lookouts, one of which showed off the entire glacier, top to bottom. Both Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers are some of the fastest moving glaciers in the world, moving up to a meter a day, and some of the only glaciers that are now actually advancing as a result of the amount of moisture and snow the area receives.

As we drove back over Haast Pass we stopped at Fantail Falls, were visitors had slowly created what looked to be a graveyard of cairns. We added our creative piece and continued along our journey. Although we are not avid Lord of the Rings fans, the movie and its locations were the topic of conversation during our trip back from the west coast . . . so much in fact that we planned the entire evening back in Queenstown around watching the first film in the LOTR trilogy. Luckily our roommate Steve was there to answer my dad every time he asked “Where’s that?” Not surprisingly, a majority of the country’s tourism industry is based on the release of the movies, and there are a ton of tour companies that offer LOTR guided trips to all of the filming locations.