Fox Glacier

After the warmth of Abel Tasman we were bracing ourselves for freezing cold here. (Forgot to mention Ro invested in a fancy new camera on the way here!, he's been playing with his new toy ever since!) Luckily the area off the glacier isn't too bad and so our layers were uncalled for! There was a lot of cloud over the glacier so on our first day the trip we had booked was cancelled so instead we headed to the base of the glacier, but this is still pretty spectacular.

Next morning we got usp early (5am!) as some kind americans offered us a lift to Lake Matheson for the sun rise. On a clear day you can see the reflection of Mount Tasman and Mount Cook in its waters. Unfortunately it was a bit too cloudy to see these or much of the sun rise but sure it was worth a go!

We popped in to the glacier tour office at 11 expecting our heli-hike to be cancelled (again!) but luckily enough we got the go ahead as the dark clouds were clearing. The helicopter flight up to the glacier was brilliant. We were only in the air for about 8 minutes but the pilots zigzagging meant we got to see some amazing views. His perfect landing on the ice was fantastic!

We then hiked around the glacier (the crampons on our boots gave us fantastic grip) finding ice caves and getting soaked crawling through them (Orla was the brave first one in!). After about 80 minutes or so heavy mist and dark clouds started heading towards the glacier so we had to make a quick exit back to base. The helicopter trip back was great fun with a few stomach lurching air jumps on the return. Well worth the wait.