10 October 2014 Sunday.
We checked out early and drove to the town.
At the Glacier explorer Office.
We need to dress up like this model
Queuing up to board the helicopter
My first helicopter ride.
Inside the helicopter.
Flying towards glacier
Landing…
Putting on the spikes…
Not satisfactory… The guide helped me out with the spike
Helicopter landing.
Our guide, a very fit young lady.
The group gathered for the final briefing before the hiking started.
The objective was to scaled uphill to somewhere near the fresh snow. Another group that was nearly there.
To understand the snowy terrain… the guide asked us to look downhill.
The glaciers consists of bumps of ice with crevice or valleys. The hike was to walk through the folds, valleys and crevice.
The glacier was bounded by mountains on both side causing the air slightly still.
OK…. start of Glacier Hike.
The guide leaded the way with her ice axe pick.
At times, she had to cleared off the ice so that the group can safely walked on.
The guide pointed out that there were a lot of preparation work done, so that group can enjoy the glacier hike safely.
It was easy stroll when the valley was wide…
The wide valley appeared to end…
Then it was narrow valley
Then it became narrower
Till we had to move sideway to get through
Looking down at one of the narrow valley….
There was also cave that we had to walk through….
When we were not walking in valley … there were towering snow wall everywhere.
The group navigated in a zigzag manner through wide and narrow valley and towering snow wall as we make our way up the glacier.
It was around 1100 hrs that we were near our objective
We arrived at our hike destinations….
Our Pictures….
It was around noon, when we made our descend to the helicopter landing site.
on our return flight ….
Concluded the event with a complimentary thermal pool dip. A very relaxing session…
It was nearly 1400 hrs…. Lunch at The Landing…. very good burger.
A short drive and we were at Lake Matheson. From the car park, we had to walk a distance before reaching the lake. Lonely tree along the way.
We were amazed by the bluish colored water.
The place was very peaceful, quiet and relaxing. … very enjoyable ambient.
Our target was to take a photograph similar to one below….Unfortunately, it was a little too windy and too cloudy over Mt Cook. We did not achieve our target photo. Will plan one to two days here if I make another trip to south island.
It was nearly 1630 hrs when started our journey to Wanaka.
The drive to Wanaka is scenic with beautiful mountain and valleys…
We crossed number of single lane bridge along the way.
As the hour ticked away, it became a little stressful with the many left and right turn…
At 1900 hrs… we were driving along the coast of lake Hawea, with the last sun ray beaming over the mountain. I thought this was beautiful.
Another stop by Lake Hawea…. I called this Lake Heaven.
Continue our journey to Wanaka.
It was nearly 2000 hrs that we checked into Wanaka hotel, had some purchases from New World (Supermarket).
I insisted to have Mussels. NZ mussels are very tasty. The vegetable are very fresh. With that we had simple and tasty dinner….
End of Day 8 : We had our first Helicopter ride and a first taste of Glacier hike. I had put a lot of pictures because it was a wonderful experience. We went around Lake Matheson without Mount Cook reflection… no regret…. it only means I had to come back again. We rushed past Hasst Pass and Lake Hawea. These are very scenic places that we will know how to slow down on our next trip.
Return to : NZ South Island Day 7
Continue to : NZ South Island Day 9
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