We rose early once again, packed our bags and checked out of
another hostel and boarded yet another bus to get us to our next destination.
This time we were headed north (as opposed to east when we went to Milford
Sound) towards Franz Josef in the Glacier National Park. The bus ride commenced
at 08:00 and we arrived at around 16:30, so another long day on the road but we
had regular stops for photos (including Thunder Creek Falls, and a Salmon Farm)
along the way and the bus was pretty comfortable (InterCity bus lines are the
firm, they are really good). As is custom with InterCity, the driver gave us a
bit of a commentary of the areas we were driving through which made the drive
more interesting and pleasant.
The following day we booked a shuttle to the glacier car
park (only 5k from the town but we didn’t want to unnecessarily add 10km to our
walk) and headed towards the Franz Josef Glacier. Our driver stopped us partway
and pointed out where the glacier currently is, and where it used to be. She
said last year it receded half a km back and shrunk down 70 metres, quite some
distance. In the last 250 years the glacier has receded 10km. Surely visiting
these glaciers, and witnessing first hand their rapid melting, should be enough
to turn the minds of any remaining climate change sceptics. In twenty years the
Franz Josef Glacier will be no more (at the current rate of melting), a very
sad thought for a Glacier that (looking at it even now, and more so from
pictures from the 1870s) was once so large, rugged and beautiful. Even from
last year the glacier has visibly reduced in size (we were told) and it’s hard
to imagine that if we were here one year ago it would have been even more
impressive.
The walk to the glacier – or as far as you are allowed to
go, for they can be dangerous things what with falling rocks and slippery,
sliding ice and that – took us around an hour. It was a flat, pleasant walk
across shallow streams and shingle rock. The views were lovely and we took
plenty of pictures.
We walked back and as we had around two hours until our pick
up we walked along another path past Peter’s Pool – named after the brave,
intrepid (nine year old) explorer who apparently named it after himself after
camping the night there on his own in 1890 – which serves to reflect the image
of the Glacier upon its surface, however, due to the receding glacier less is
reflected upon the pool these days. After Peter’s Pool we walked on Douglas
Path (not sure who that’s named after, Dudley Moore maybe?) which was hilly and
largely just a forest path with no real standout features. We walked back
across a cycle track which was nice and flat (we didn’t want to tackle the
Douglas Path hills again) and waited in the car park for our shuttle whilst
admiring the view of Franz Josef in the background.
We checked into our hostel and had a quiet evening as we
planned to have a walk to Franz Josef Glacier in the morning. Franz Josef was
originally called Victoria Glacier (after Queen Victoria) but for some unexplained
reason someone let it be renamed after Franz Josef, the then Austro-Hungarian
Emperor. Franz Josef town sits around 10km from Franz Josef Glacier terminal
(foot of the glacier so to speak) and is a quiet little place with a few
hostels, cafes and bars. On our way here we drove past Fox Glacier (presumably
where they grow and harvest Fox Glacier Mints…), which used to be called Albert
Glacier after Prince Albert (Queen Victoria’s husband? Son? I can’t remember)
but was renamed after the first Premier of New Zealand, which back to the point
is a similar little town nestled beneath Fox Glacier in the valley on the other
side of Franz Josef. They offer helicopter rides on to the glaciers but they
cost a fortune so we passed up the option.
The following day we booked a shuttle to the glacier car
park (only 5k from the town but we didn’t want to unnecessarily add 10km to our
walk) and headed towards the Franz Josef Glacier. Our driver stopped us partway
and pointed out where the glacier currently is, and where it used to be. She
said last year it receded half a km back and shrunk down 70 metres, quite some
distance. In the last 250 years the glacier has receded 10km. Surely visiting
these glaciers, and witnessing first hand their rapid melting, should be enough
to turn the minds of any remaining climate change sceptics. In twenty years the
Franz Josef Glacier will be no more (at the current rate of melting), a very
sad thought for a Glacier that (looking at it even now, and more so from
pictures from the 1870s) was once so large, rugged and beautiful. Even from
last year the glacier has visibly reduced in size (we were told) and it’s hard
to imagine that if we were here one year ago it would have been even more
impressive.
The walk to the glacier – or as far as you are allowed to
go, for they can be dangerous things what with falling rocks and slippery,
sliding ice and that – took us around an hour. It was a flat, pleasant walk
across shallow streams and shingle rock. The views were lovely and we took
plenty of pictures.
We walked back and as we had around two hours until our pick
up we walked along another path past Peter’s Pool – named after the brave,
intrepid (nine year old) explorer who apparently named it after himself after
camping the night there on his own in 1890 – which serves to reflect the image
of the Glacier upon its surface, however, due to the receding glacier less is
reflected upon the pool these days. After Peter’s Pool we walked on Douglas
Path (not sure who that’s named after, Dudley Moore maybe?) which was hilly and
largely just a forest path with no real standout features. We walked back
across a cycle track which was nice and flat (we didn’t want to tackle the
Douglas Path hills again) and waited in the car park for our shuttle whilst
admiring the view of Franz Josef in the background.
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