So, after a fair bit of the cold, wet type of good weather on the west coast of South Island we were treated to a day of the sunny, warm variety - painfully blue skies, no wind and no rain - so we decided to get cold and wet clambering about on Franz Josef Glacier. Only guided tourists and experienced mountaineers are allowed to hike on the glaciers in Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park , and since South African's are glacially-challenged (with the exception of those who can afford expensive foreign therapy in high, cold and sharp places) we were classed as the former. Which was wonderful - we were fortunate to just have a small group of six, guided by a young kiwi called Zac, who gave us sharp pointy things to put on our feet, cut steps into the ice for us to minimise the risk of us putting the sharp pointy bits into ourselves, gave us some very interesting info about the glacier and just managed to prevent his naughty ZA tourists from damaging themselves because they insisted on gaining teetering vantage points for photos...
Lisl on the far side of an ice tunnel - what you can't see is that the tunnel opens onto a deep crevasse and she is standing on a narrow ledge against the wall of the crevasse, about to squeeze through yet another ice tunnel...
Guest Pic this week by my friend Lisl Bennett
who shared some of Adam & my Kiwi experiences before heading further south to Milford Sound, Te Anau and other ridiculously beautiful places! I had trouble deciding which of her pics to feature so if you'd like to see more just click on the pic to be see more from her New Zealand album.
The scenic Buller Gorge that runs through the Paparoa Mountains – as Lisl says “When nature sets up the shots”.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love feedback! Energy flows both ways, so let me know what you think, whether it's positive or constructively critical, both are valuable!