Days 10 - Glacier Country

After driving through the Gates of Haast, we arrived in Glacier Country.  We had hoped to hike on the actual glacier, but because of the dangers of hiking near the base (rock falls, flash floods), they only allow people to either hike on their own to a certain distance from the base, or with a guided company on the actual ice itself.  If you hike on the ice itself with a guided company you have to take a helicopter to the top of the glacier.  Unfortunately we couldn't find any company that would allow James to do it with us.  Bummer!  So we just did the hike with the rest of the tourists to the base of Fox Glacier.  The conditions change daily so the sign at the beginning tells you how close the current path allows you to be.  You hike along the valley carved by the glacier.  They have several 'no stopping' sections of the hike because of the possibilities of rock slides.  For some reason these were always on the steep uphill sections of the hike.  Tiring.  Some people decided the rules didn't apply to them, including this one woman in a leopard print corset, leather pants, and heels, who was doing sexy poses in front of the glacier.  Interesting.

Rock slides

We decided to do Franz Josef Glacier the next morning since it was a little further north, so in the meantime we tried to do a hike with good views of Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand.  Mount Cook was not cooperating, however, and was covered in clouds.  We did the hike around Lake Matheson anyway but without the view it was kind of anti-climactic.  Click on the link to see what it is supposed to look like.  Would have been spectacular.

The area has several natural hot springs so we went to Glacier Hot Pools at the end of the day and relaxed.  It was just what we needed to recharge our batteries.  James thoroughly enjoyed swimming around in the warm water, watching mom and dad pop up and down.