Franz Josef Glacier – Greymouth

22 February – 25 February

Tuesday:

It’s still grey and rainy as we leave Wanaka and drive towards the Franz Josef Glacier.  The further west we get the more interesting the scenery: heavy forest and steep mountains. 

We stop off to check out a couple of waterfalls – unfortunately so does every other vehicle on the road.  This is one problem with New Zealand: it’s small and there’s only so much to see, so wherever you go there’s guaranteed to be at least 20 campervans pulled up already.

At lunchtime we find a pretty spot, but it’s no good.  We’re properly into sandfly territory now, and even dressed in trousers, shoes, a long sleeved top AND sitting in the car I’m driven to insanity by the little buggers. 

We arrive at our campsite in the late afternoon.  It’s only as we’re in the queue to check-in that we catch sight of the news and see that Christchurch has been hit by another earthquake.  We didn’t feel a thing.  Most of the evening is spent glued to the telly.  It’s heartbreaking.  Christchurch was a charming little city and chatting to the locals while we were there they were all so positive about how the city recovered from the last quake.  They were just grateful that no one had been killed.  Unfortunately they’re not so lucky this time.

Wednesday:

We’re up nice and early today as we’ve booked a guided day hike up the glacier.  We arrive at the office to get kitted up in our gear: waterproof trousers, huge raincoats, woolly hats and gloves, thick socks, boots and crampons.

It’s a short drive to the car park, then a 2km walk to the face of the glacier.  After a swift climb through the moraine we stop to put our crampons on and then we’re onto the ice! 

Our guide goes in front of us using his ice pick to carve out a rough track for us.  Before we know it we’re squeezing through ice walls

slithering through caves

and clambering over the ice. 

It’s brilliant fun, but cold.  The incessant soft rain doesn’t help, but as we’re on the ice I keep imagining it’s snowing not raining.  All of our gear gets put to good use. 

After a few hours of hard climbing we make it over the first ice-flow and stop briefly for lunch.  Our guide tells us that we’re lucky to get up this high – they haven’t had groups up here for a while. 

Our short rest break up, it’s time to start down.  We’ve all got a bit used to our crampons now and manage to move with a bit of pace.  As a final highlight of the day we enter ‘blue mist’: a crevasse that they’ve partially filled with ice so we can walk through it.  It’s beautiful and claustrophobic and exciting.

All too soon we’re off the ice and back on land for the short trek back to the bus.  It’s been a long day’s walking and we’re knackered.  Back at camp we find ourselves once again glued to the telly getting quake updates.  It’s only just becoming clear how much the south island relies on Christchurch: internet facilities, phone networks, banking etc are all disrupted, as are the supermarket supply chains. 

Thursday:

Today’s destination is Greymouth on the wild west coast.  We arrive in the early afternoon and get checked into Noah’s Ark hostel, where we’re given the zebra room.

I’ve become a bit of a fan of Monteith’s crushed apple cider, so I’ve booked us a tour of Monteith’s brewery later this afternoon.  After a short walk around town we head over. 

Monteith’s used to be a small brewery, but it’s been bought out by one of the big ‘uns (DBs).  You can’t help getting the feeling that this brewery has been kept open to keep the tourists happy, while the beer actually gets mass produced in Auckland.  Still, it’s saved some local jobs and kept a bit of history alive.  The tour itself is a little lacklustre until we get to the serious bit: tasting time.  We’re treated to a taste of all 7 beers as well as 2 ciders.  We’re then given the opportunity to come up and pour a glass of our favourite. 

And then (jackpot) our tour leader tells us to help ourselves to another and disappears for about 45 minutes.  Best brewery tour ever (although our heads weren’t that happy in the morning).

We get chatting to a young couple that live in Christchurch but have escaped to Greymouth for a few days to escape the chaos.  At their recommendation we find ourselves in a pub down the road for just a couple more, but then redeem ourselves by heading back to the hostel to cook some food and crash out.

Friday:

After a predictably slow start to the day we eventually get ourselves going and loaded into the car.  We’ve booked 2 nights in Greymouth but there’s not much to do round there, so we’re taking a day trip up the coast.  It’s a wild route, hugging steep cliffs and dramatic coastlines.  First stop is Punakaiki to see the blowholes and pancake rocks  (named because they look like stacks of pancakes). 

After a walk round to admire the weird rock formations we stop for lunch then continue up the coast.  Our next stop is Cape Foulwind to visit the local seal colony. 

We decide to call it a day and start the drive back.  After a brief scare from a decidedly fickle petrol gauge, we finally find ourselves back in Greymouth just in time for a beer in the garden before heading out for some food.  Quite by chance we find ourselves in Nick’s BEST restaurant ever.  He orders 3 different types of meat and has them brought out to him raw on a hot stone plate where he can then cook them himself.  He’s in heaven. 

My pizza is a bit less dramatic but just as tasty.   Bellies overfull we head for bed.