…………here we come and I cannot wait! This is one of the key reasons I wanted to visit NZ ie to see the glacier. I am booked on the Helihike tour and just need Mother Nature to be on our side to enable us to get up there and see it.

On route to FJ we stop off at The Brunner Mine, in 1896 the mine was a big producer of exceptionally high quality coal, bricks and coke. This continued to be the case right up until the 1960’s.

The Brunner Mine Disaster; on the morning of the 26th March 1896, mine workers tried three times to coax a team of pit ponies into the mine, each time the horses reared and kicked as they neared the mine entrance and only when they are blindfolded and led in backwards did they enter, did the ponies know the mine was not safe that morning? At 9.30am a loud explosion from deep within the mine stopped everyone in their tracks, a flame roared out of the mine entrance followed by a column off choking smoke.

In that instant 65 men lost their lives, 43 women lost their husbands and 169 children lost their fathers (and family provider), nothing below the pit surface including the ponies survived.

The Aftermath; One horror behind the Brunner mass grave in the Stillwater cemetery, is that most of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and could not be honoured in a personal burial. Because the mine company owned their homes, many families faced eviction as their homes were required for replacement workers. Across the counter $32,000 was donated to support the families.

Experienced miners felt the explosion was caused by poor ventilation, however, a government enquiry unfairly blamed it on a negligent worker, the real reason may never be known.

We will be in FJ for two nights, thank goodness and this moving every day is tiring, I am going to be ruthless the next time I travel with the things that I bring and I mean it this time! Having said that I am doing much better this time and haven’t needed to expand my case …..yet! As I said in my earlier blogs Fio and I decide to eat in for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next two days…………happy days so we go and do a shop at the local super market on arrival.

It is another long day on the road to get there, however, the scenery here did not disappoint, it is stunning.

We have a free day, however, as I have said I am booked on the Helihike with 4 of our party, others choose to go eg Kayaking etc yesterday, the weather was not good and whilst the forecast was good enough for today there is a risk of high winds. We woke to the most beautiful morning with no sign of wind in the town of Franz Joseph and our hike is confirmed as being on this morning, Yay! I will let the pictures speak for themselves, broadly, we were kitted out with our gear, safety chat and then flown up to the Glacier by Helicopter, we were on the Glacier for approx 2 hours and if you ever get the opportunity – do it! The Franz Joseph glacier is without doubt one of the natural wonders of the world.

We have some soup for lunch and then head up to the base of the Glacier for a walk/tramp. My brother, David was here in 1985 and has asked me to look out for the marker of where the Glacier was at that time. Unfortunately, when we do the walk up to where you used to be able to walk up there are 2 reasons why I won’t get to see this. 1. It is not possible to walk up to it as the Glacier whilst still growing has receded hugely and 2. In 2020, 20 stupid people ignored all the signs regarding not passing a certain point and well whilst they were rescued it was decided to close off the area and opportunity to go any farther. Our 30 min walk was a 15 min walk, we had decided to do two walks, this one and the Alex Knob 1.5 hr walk to the lake and back – there is an 8hr walk, this took just short of an hour, there is a shuttle bus that goes up and down, we had thought we would be on the 6pm one but were back in the car park at 4.30 pm so rather than wait for the 5pm one we decided to walk back to town. We were well warned by James NOT to walk on the river bed as the water can rise suddenly in this area, so we cannot believe our eyes when we see some people out walking on it. Fools! The max rainfall recorded here was 6 feet in 36 hours!

I am so glad we did as there is an Anglican Church called St James’s and it gave us the opportunity to go in and see it. It has plain glass windows as originally it had a beautiful view of the glacier, the view is still beautiful, however, the glacier is now out of view :-(.

As we walked into town the red rocks on the river bed, lichen covered rocks. These reddish hues often come from algae or lichen thriving on the moisture-rich rocks, and offer a striking contrast to the water, glacier and rain forest.

The blue water comes from the glacial silt (rock flour) suspended in the meltwater rivers, making them milky blue, while the glacier’s blue ice itself is due to dense ice with few air bubbles absorbing other colours and reflecting blue light, a result of it’s rapid movement down to a rainforest.

The “Moulin water holes” is caused by melting water on the glacier creating vertical shafts and features like ice blue caves and steep drops. You do not want to fall down a moulin hole as you are unlikely to be ever seen again and no-one would be allowed to attempt a rescue as the risk of death is so extreme.

The Māori name for the Franz Joseph Glacier is Ka Roimata O Hind Hukatere (Tears of Hine Hukatere).

Some glacier facts:

Guess what age the oldest part of the glacier is? Nope….30 years! The ice is being replaced continually as it grows. The Glacier moves on average 3 metres per day. It stretches over 12 km and descending from the Southern Alps is 300 meters above sea level, it is one of the rare glaciers that reaches so close to a temperate rain forest, creating a dramatic contrast of icy terrain against lush greenery, Nature’s power and beauty here is breath taking.

The glacier’s striking blue ice and deep crevasse’s draw all sorts and types of people from all over the world. Over thousands of years the glacier has carved deep valleys, polished rocks, and the surrounding rain forest. Seasonal variations transform this landscape as you can imagine.

We get back and get a well deserved drink in a pub called Snakebite! Can you remember what one of those consists of? And no I didn’t I passed on that delightful option.

A few add on groceries and make a lovely omelette for dinner with lots a charcuterie board of sorts on the side, So nice. What a day, a sensory over-load, I cannot imagine what would top today’s experience.

A full re-pack of my case required tonight, urgh, I have made a decision to do some laundry tomorrow, I can’t cope with the amount of laundry that is building up, so Fio and I pack my big day bag so that I can shove it in the washing machines/tumble driers when I get to Wannaka as we are on a short commute tomorrow and have free time in the afternoon.

Some amazing women….

Amazing experience – loved it and I do not know what would ever top today 🙂