Franz Josef Glacier

We had several visitors from other places in January. Practically every time someone comes to visit, we take them to Pancake Rocks. I ended up staying home from the last two trips there; I have a baby who does not like to go away from home, so I stay here and prepare meals.

The first visitors for the month were two young men and their sister. Gayle and the children took them to Pancake Rocks on New Year’s Day. They stopped at the Brunner Mine first; this is the Grey River from there.

After checking out Pancake Rocks, they went to Punakaiki Caverns. It’s apparently very beautiful! I’ve never been there myself.

They also took the Truman Track down to the beach. I have been there! Here are Mr. Diligence and Mr. Intellectual climbing a rock.

Our other visitors arrived towards the end of the month. This was two young ladies Esther’s age from Germany. Esther took several trips with them. The first trip was to Pancake Rocks; I didn’t save any of her pictures. Later that week, she, Mr. Diligence and Mr. Sweetie went along to the glaciers with them. Here they are walking up to Franz Josef.

They also went to Fox Glacier, but couldn’t drive up as we did the last time. In fact, the road on both sides of the river that goes away from Fox Glacier has been washed out from the record-breaking rainfalls we’ve had this year. They walked up the road on the side away from the glacier; it’s closed to vehicles because of the slips. They walked a total of two hours there!

In between trips, the boys took the German girls down to the creek and gave them a ride in the boat.

Mr. Sweetie, Mr. Imagination, and Little Miss enjoyed the water and mud!

Esther and Mr. Sweetie also went with the girls to Arthur’s Pass. They stopped at Lake Brunner on the way.

This is a waterfall on the Millenium Walk, near the visitor’s centre.

These pictures were taken at the Devil’s Punchbowl Falls.

We have enjoyed having visitors!

Now that we’re home for a Saturday with no visitors, however, this happened:

The canoe has been sitting for the past year, waiting for the fibreglass. Mr. Intellectual got the sanding done awhile ago, and he patched up the holes. Now, the fibreglass is on, with the first coat of epoxy. Doesn’t it look good?

After we left Fox Glacier, on Friday evening of our trip, we tried to find a campground in the Fox Glacier Township. We knew it was supposed to rain, so we wanted a place where we could put part of the family in a cabin. The only place we could find cost about twice what we had paid the two previous nights! We decided to drive the half hour to Franz Josef and see if we could find a better place. The first place we checked out would have cost about three times as much, so we ended up at another of the chain we had tried in Fox Glacier. Still very expensive, but the best option we could find for that night. When the rain came down in torrents most of the night, leaving puddles all over, we were glad we had gotten a roof for the ones who were to have tented it! In the morning, then, we were thankful to see the sun, to dry out the camper before we closed it up. We were also treated to this glimpse of the mountains!

After breakfast, packing up, and family worship, we drove to the glacier. It was a much easier walk than at Fox Glacier, since the track hadn’t washed out. Again, the faster members of the family went ahead, and Mom and I walked at the pace of a two-year-old. Life is quite interesting, viewed from that perspective! Once again, I’ve borrowed most of these pictures from my daughter. I let our oldest boy use my camera, but her pictures are better. There were, once again, many waterfalls along the rocky path. Everything we walked on was once under the glacier! It is retreating rapidly. This is about where we slowpokes turned around. We got a good view of the glacier, and decided that if we didn’t want the rest of the crew to pass us up and have to wait for us, we’d better turn back. We got about halfway back, and suddenly some European tourists, passing us, exclaimed about the glacier. We turned to look, and the sun had come out on the ice! What a glorious sight! The picture Mom took, below, does not do it justice.

And, here are a few more pictures from closer-up.

Above: our oldest two, Esther and Seth. Below: Elijah, Simon, James.

At one point along the trail, they found a chunk of ice from the glacier. Esther had a plastic bag to protect her camera, so they brought the ice back to the van to show the rest of us.

Gayle and Joseph—on the top of the world!

Be prepared for danger!

A few of the boys raced back to the van ahead of the rest. I gave them permission to explore another trail, to the river below the glacier. They apparently took these pictures there. This is Elijah and Simon.

What a wonderful chance to explore a special part of God’s creation! We felt especially blessed when, just before all the explorers joined us back at the van, the heavens opened and rain poured most of the rest of the day! The weather had cleared just for a little while that morning, long enough to allow us to see the glacier.