Gaciers in New Zealand

It is Friday, February 12 and we are continuing our journey north along the west coast of South Island, New Zealand. It was a long day on the bus, but it is a large bus with lots of room for our sixteen tourists, guide, and bus driver.

We have crossed the mountains from the dry side to the wet, almost tropical side of the island. Today’s drive took us from Fox Glacier with views of Mt. Cook – the 12,500 ft. tallest peak to Franz Josef Glacier which is close to the Tasmin Sea. We stopped in Westland National Park which surrounds the glacier. This glacier is unusual because it has formed with a large oval shaped nave (the original snow field) and a long narrow tongue (the part that flows down the mountain), in this case almost like a waterfall. The glacier has grown and receded many times over its recorded history. Sometimes it grows as much as 17 feet in a week! There are many reasons for this, most involved with climate fluctuations and rainfall. Right now it is receding!

The Park has very tropical vegetation, except where the glacier has destroyed it. However, it does seem to come back fairly quickly. We traveled along the river that flows out of the glacier. The water is very grey and milky looking – that is how you know it comes from a glacier with all the rock and sediment from the glacier. We took a long walk along the river to almost the edge of the glacier.

After that we had some fun shopping for greenstone, which is a very important stone to the Maori. They find a lot of it in this area and they carve and grind it to make jewelry, weapons, and tools. It is very strong. We saw a factory where they were carving it and, of course, the shop where they sold it. There are 5 or more shapes that have special meanings such as strength, friendship, protection from evil, safety on water, etc.

Tonight we are staying in Punakaiki which is a lovely spot along the Tasmin Sea in a hotel which is built like a tropical resort. We have a view of the ocean and are surrounded by fountains and gardens of tropical plants. Tonight we even went out to look at the Southern Cross – the sky was so clear and beautiful.