After spending an uneventful night in the teeensy tiny (and expensive) town of Fox Glacier, we went to the actual glacier yesterday!! It was amazing. I wore all my rain gear because it was drizzling and put up my hood -- I forgot my hat. About midway through our day tour of ice climbing, the sky cleared up and we had to take off all our layers. I was down to my t-shirt and had my hoodie off and were on the ice in the sun! It was beautiful. We saw all the distinct striations on the ice and it was this brilliant blue! We hiked up from the terminal face with crampons and our guide, Scotty, cut fresh steps for us to keep us safe. We saw moulins, where the water bores tiny (and larger and larger) holes into the ice and then the water flows underneath the glacier and that's how it carves further out into the valley. We were even able to fill our water bottles from the little flows on the glacier -- so fresh!
Before we even got started, I was chatting with some of the other girls on the tour and the Australian girl asked me if I did a lot of outdoorsy things. I said no, that I'm more of an indoors girl and that I really like beuatiful buildings, but did she? Yes, she went outside as often as she could. The German girl with her agreed. Wouldn't you know, though, that the indoorsy girl wasn't the most hesitant on the trip? It was the Australian. HAH. But I maybe should have been slightly more cautious.. I stepped on this bit of ice that looked solid, but actually crashed through into the water below. I didn't go far, but I fumbled my feet and tore a hole through my Lululemon dance studio pants. :(
At the end when we were taking off our crampons, The Boy looked at me and said "um. i think you might have gotten a little sun on your scalp." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh ANOTHER SUNBURN!!!!!!!!!
i want an australian hat.
Or any hat other than just my cap.
Anyway, immediately after our ice hike, we went on a mini hike on Lake Matheson. this lookout has the best views of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. It was gorgeous but there were some low lying clouds and we couldn't see the tops of the mountains! Mount Cook is the highest mountain in NZ and Mount Tasman is the second highest... but we couldn't tell which was which because the tops were hidden. Then we went to Hokitika, the only place in NZ where naturally occuring jade (pounamu) is found and goodletite is mined.
EVERYTHING (restaurants, bars, stores) was closed when we got there at 9 pm. We found the only restaurant open (Indian) and ate some food (yum) and tasted this fantastic wine called the Doctor's Reisling from the Marlborough region here in NZ. The sun was still bright. it doesn't set until about 10 pm here. Friday night and nothing going on. Oh well!
This morning, we went into "town" for breakfast and then shopped around for pounamu. Dude, it was crazy expensive. I'm not willing to part with several hundred dollars for a tiny piece of carved jade, especially when it's from British Columbia. Note to travellers: when buying jade in NZ, if it says "Genuine Nephrite Jade" it probably is, but it's NOT from NZ. It has to say "from NZ" on it. I DO still want a twisty piece of carved jade, but I'm hoping that it's slightly cheaprer in the bigger towns we'll visit.
We drove to Murchison for lunch and some scenic lookouts. We would have stopped at the swing bridge, but given my fear of heights and The Boy's fear of people, it didn't happen. The next bit of our trip was all about the Marlborough Wine County! Marlborough is known for their sauvignon blanc, but I prefer much sweeter wines. After trying a few with no success, we were referred to Forrest Estate. The Boy suggested we skip it because it was getting on to their closing time, but then he saw a sign that said that Forrest produces the Doctors wines! So we backtracked, went in, and bought a few bottles of the Doctors Reisling. It's touted to taste like candy apples - toffee sweet and smooth and apply tart and crisp. I love it! Too bad we'll never find it in Canada. :(
We're in Picton now. We visited the Queen Charlotte Sound and walked around the wharf. For dinner, I had Queen Charlotte Sound green-lipped mussels and The Boy ate blue cod fingers. We shared a smoked Sound salmon pizza and we're stuffed! It'll be an early night tonight because our sail is early tomorrow!
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