Fox Glacier - New Zealand
8/20/05
We walked to the glacier in the morning, it is only 6 kilometers away from the hotel. For someone that likes hiking the distance wasn't a problem, but it was drizzling. Anyway, we walked there.
Fox Glacier is the longest of the west coast and it can move up to 5m in a day. From 1987 to 1989 it moved 1 kilometer.
We didn't walk up the glacier because it is forbiden to do without a guide (indeed crevasses can be really dangerous) and since we didn't want to pay 90 NZ dollars for a half day tour we just explored the boundary.
The rain and the fog made the area where we were a bit more dangerous, because of falling rocks. Note how dirty the ice became.
When we left the area we heard an avalanche of rocks.
8/21/05
This day we spent travelling to Nelson. How? Hitchhike.
Glacier fox is said to have a population of 140 people, at least it is what the manager of the hotel told us, so you can imagine how small it is. The main street is actually the road going south/north.
There aren't many people traveling on this road; in about one hour and a half only eight cars passed and the curious thing was that the one that stopped for us was a Nepalese guy that came for an interview to work as a guide on the glacier.
He couldn't take us all the way though, only 1/3, because he was heading east, to Christchurch. We were left on the road again where we waited for our next lift.
Not long after a very dirt car stopped, but we should never judge some one by how dirty its car is. He was a very nice retired man from the north island that recently moved to the south. The ride wasn't long though and we were on the road again.
Maybe 30 minutes again and someone stopped, an old Nissan SUV droven by a guy that was, 20 years ago, a backpacker. He travelled in 26 countries and hitchhicked in most of them. It was funny when we asked how Egypt was, the answer was: It was as rough as it gets. Now he lives in Nelson Creek, a town whose population is only 50 people (no, it is not a typo, the population is really 50 people).
And so, in front of Nelson Creek we stayed, waiting for another good soul to take us further.
Another fourty minutes and a young farmer stopped with a car pick-up. During the conversation he gave us some hint as if he wanted to hire us for a temp job in his farm. Although it could have been interesting and fun, we told him we didn't have enough time. Later on, he confessed that he and his dad use to hire travellers for temporary job and have fun watching them working, because most of the time they are people from cities that know nothing about life in a farm, just like us. He also told us a lot about life in the countryside of NZ; depending on where you live you might have to travel to the neighboring town to go to a pub and take your sleeping bag with you in case you end up drunk.! It seems to be a commun practice there...
We were left again on the road still 3 hour by car from Nelson. This time a Israeli guy stopped, he was once a tour guide in Southeast Asia but has been leaving for the last 14 years in New Zealand. This guy gave us lots of good information about the region, the trek in Abel Tasman and brought us right to the door of the accommodation which was recommended by him.
Hitchhiking wasn't so hard after all, not to say that it was fun and interesting to meet all these different people with so different background in one single day.
At the accomodation we met an Italian guy that lived for a while in Brazil working in wineries. He will be back there in November and we´ll probably meet him again in Recife.
We walked to the glacier in the morning, it is only 6 kilometers away from the hotel. For someone that likes hiking the distance wasn't a problem, but it was drizzling. Anyway, we walked there.
Fox Glacier is the longest of the west coast and it can move up to 5m in a day. From 1987 to 1989 it moved 1 kilometer.
We didn't walk up the glacier because it is forbiden to do without a guide (indeed crevasses can be really dangerous) and since we didn't want to pay 90 NZ dollars for a half day tour we just explored the boundary.
The rain and the fog made the area where we were a bit more dangerous, because of falling rocks. Note how dirty the ice became.
When we left the area we heard an avalanche of rocks.
8/21/05
This day we spent travelling to Nelson. How? Hitchhike.
Glacier fox is said to have a population of 140 people, at least it is what the manager of the hotel told us, so you can imagine how small it is. The main street is actually the road going south/north.
There aren't many people traveling on this road; in about one hour and a half only eight cars passed and the curious thing was that the one that stopped for us was a Nepalese guy that came for an interview to work as a guide on the glacier.
He couldn't take us all the way though, only 1/3, because he was heading east, to Christchurch. We were left on the road again where we waited for our next lift.
Not long after a very dirt car stopped, but we should never judge some one by how dirty its car is. He was a very nice retired man from the north island that recently moved to the south. The ride wasn't long though and we were on the road again.
Maybe 30 minutes again and someone stopped, an old Nissan SUV droven by a guy that was, 20 years ago, a backpacker. He travelled in 26 countries and hitchhicked in most of them. It was funny when we asked how Egypt was, the answer was: It was as rough as it gets. Now he lives in Nelson Creek, a town whose population is only 50 people (no, it is not a typo, the population is really 50 people).
And so, in front of Nelson Creek we stayed, waiting for another good soul to take us further.
Another fourty minutes and a young farmer stopped with a car pick-up. During the conversation he gave us some hint as if he wanted to hire us for a temp job in his farm. Although it could have been interesting and fun, we told him we didn't have enough time. Later on, he confessed that he and his dad use to hire travellers for temporary job and have fun watching them working, because most of the time they are people from cities that know nothing about life in a farm, just like us. He also told us a lot about life in the countryside of NZ; depending on where you live you might have to travel to the neighboring town to go to a pub and take your sleeping bag with you in case you end up drunk.! It seems to be a commun practice there...
We were left again on the road still 3 hour by car from Nelson. This time a Israeli guy stopped, he was once a tour guide in Southeast Asia but has been leaving for the last 14 years in New Zealand. This guy gave us lots of good information about the region, the trek in Abel Tasman and brought us right to the door of the accommodation which was recommended by him.
Hitchhiking wasn't so hard after all, not to say that it was fun and interesting to meet all these different people with so different background in one single day.
At the accomodation we met an Italian guy that lived for a while in Brazil working in wineries. He will be back there in November and we´ll probably meet him again in Recife.
posted by Adriano and Angie | 3:35 PM
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