December 28

Fox Glacier: Rain and laundry

It had been a stormy night: wind, rain, thunder and lightning. The morning was stormy as well. Some Germans who were motercycling around New Zealand were staying in my room. They were frustrated with the weather. I decided it would be a good day to do laundry, which I had been neglecting since Te Anau. They would do it for you at the hostel for $5, so I left a load to pick up in the afternoon, hoping they would do it correctly, since some things, like synthetic underwear, cannot be put in the drier. They said they knew this.

The rain was worse than yesterday, as predicted. I was staying here an extra day, hoping Friday would be clear enough for a helicopter ride to a glacier. There was no real reason for optimism, but this would be my only chance, and my friend Sally in Knoxville had enjoyed the helicopter ride at Franz Joseph Glacier when visiting New Zealand.

This morning, I drove up to Franz Joseph and went to the visitor's center there. The road had many washed out and damaged sections, marked by yellow signs with exclamation points, which generally meant part of the road was missing ahead, or covered by rocks. The bridge just before Franz Joseph had washed away a couple weeks ago. The old one could still be seen downstream of the new bridge. The river under the new bridge was full and fast, just a couple feet below the road. The road to the glacier terminus was closed due to flooding, or I would have gone to see it today.

I went to the Cheeky Kea Cafe for lunch, and had a steak and bacon pie with spicy wedges and cappuccino. Before I finished, an intense downpour started and didn't let up. I decided I should go back to Fox Glacier now before the bridge flooded and I was stuck here. There was a stream running down the sides of the road, and I took my shoes off to cross as I dashed quickly through the rain to my car.

I stopped at the visitor's center in Fox Glacier to check on the weather forecast. It looked like it could be a little better tomorrow, but not much. I bought a post card and made a YHA booking for Greymouth tomorrow night. The helicopter people at Alpine Guides were not optimistic about there being any flights tomorrow. There hadn't been any major flights in over two weeks.

I picked up my laundry I had left at the hostel office, and then cooked dinner. Afterward, I watched TV for a while. A show called "The World's Weirdest TV" was on - a collection of strange gameshow excerpts from around the world. People competing in various injurious games in Japan were prominently featured, but there were also some American game shows, though none I had ever seen. Around the time that show was over, at 8:30, the sun came out. Everyone went outside to see it. Some people even got out their video cameras. Seeing the sun was a rare event here.

A half hour later, the clouds started breaking up, and some peaks became visible as the sun prepared to set behind some clouds. I quickly grabbed my cameras, without stopping to put on shoes, and drove down to Lake Matheson. The guide had said yesterday that this was a great place to view the glacier and mountains. In fact, only the upper part was visible from there. I drove back to the bridge near the Fox Glacier access roads, and took some pictures from it of the snow-capped peaks in the orange light of the setting sun. Only the tip of the highest peak was fully illuminated. Then I drove back out past Lake Matheson, heading toward the shore, thinking there may be a better viewpoint further out. There was. I found a peak indicator in a field by the road, with an excellent view of Fox Glacier, except for the bottom. Clouds were forming around the glacier again in the dusk, and the view soon faded.

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1996. All rights reserved.