Back to the Ice Age

Så är dagen kommen för vår allra första och, måhända sista, gästbloggare här i det gröna sköna kiwilandet. Våran käre respartner Pim har tilldelats äran att dela med sig av våra äventyr de senaste dagarna (nej, det har inget att göra med den andra författarens oförmåga att skriva fort nog, inte alls) och då tyckte vi att en liten förändring kunde sitta fint med ett annat språk, ombyte förnöjer som man brukar säga. Men, var lugna, det är ett språk de flesta av oss känner till, vi lekte med tanken att ge er en rejäl utmaning genom ett blogginlägg på Holländska, men tänkte att det nog är bättre med en liten mjukstart. Så, damer och herrar, här kommer således en uppdatering på resefronten, introduced by Mr P.Voorwerk!
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We started the day with some lovely porridge with banana apples and raisins, like the most mornings. After a bit of shopping we went on a short road trip of aprox 400 kilometres. Really beautiful ride trough the mountains and to catch some breath from all the oooh's and aah's we decided to have a lunch beside a nice and sunny lake.
We have been checking the weather a couple of days before our trip to Fox Glacier and throughout the drive our fear became true. We'd seen a lot of rain on the forecast and when we came closer to the glacier the clouds became thicker and the blue sky turned out in a grey rainy mass of destruction!
We checked in at Ivory Towers were we made our own pizza from fresh made dough with a lot of cheese, broccoli, tuna, onion and some other healthy veggies! After doing our dishes we went to the tv room to watch some movies and we went to bed quite early.

And so we reached the day of the climb, oh well it was supposed to be. When we first looked out through the window it was cloudy but at least dry. So we were positive and after our breakfast we went to the office to check about the weather and if we could climb that day. The tour was already turned into a half day tour and there was a possibility that we only could do one or two hours!
After this news we decided to do the climbing on friday instead. When we walked out the door of the office we knew we made the right decision; it was raining as never seen before and it continued for two days! We heard something about 400 mm of rain in a day and I'm sure we made that goal! So we rented some movies and we relaxed for two days.

And finally, after two days of swimming and rowing to the supermarket, when we woke up its was dry and there was even a little sunshine trying to make its way through the clouds. So we ate some breakfast, packed our stuff and went to the office were we got the good news. We picked up some gear like: special boots, gaiters, ice axes, backpacks and, to be secure, some raincoats. We hopped on the bus and enjoyed a nice ride to the glacier. We were now a group of five because a German guy named Stefan joined us and there was of course mister guide who we could call Joe.

We started with a walk from the car park to the beginning of the glacier. There we jumped in our gear and we made our first steps on the ice. It felt a bit strange walking on frozen water but the view of it was amazing. Joe decided to get some ropes ready so we could get our first ice climbing experience. A steep wall from aprox 6 or 7 meters was the first one were we could smash in our axes and the spikes of our crampons (they are like metal shoes but with a lot of sharp spikes). The first try was a good one we really got into it. After a couple of times going up and down again we went on a little discovering tour on the glacier. And during the walk even the sun came trough! We made some nice pictures and searched after that for a nice place on some rocks where we had a very delicious lunch in form of fluffy pancakes with peanut butter and chocolate smooth!

Our tummy's were full when we went on a short walk to a hole where Joe would lower us and then we had to climb out. The first hole was like 10 meters deep with a nice stream of water in it. And luckily everybody made it out of the hole, but it wasn't over yet because we went to another, even more fearfully!! A deep narrow cold from 10 meters or more without seeing the bottom. We rappelled down until we could no further. We went in there only one at the time. And sadly after this it was time to head back to the car park where the bus was waiting for us.

We came home pretty sweaty so we first went for a nice shower and after that we made dinner, rented another movie and that was enough for the day!

We wanted to leave really early because we had a long day of driving before us so we got up at 5 o clock (what a time to get up on a holiday)! We got our things done and left the backpackers around six and set our route to Greymouth for some shopping because we had ran out of supplies. From Greymouth we took a pass to Hanmer springs were we pretty tired had a rest and enjoyed a ice cream. After that we continued the drive towards Picton and the ferry to the north island!

With greetings Pim.