Today was our planned helicopter ride to see the glacier and have a snow landing. We were a tad worried as the weather report the night before was not all that encouraging. We had a bit of a slow start and checked in at the flight desk at 10am as requested.
The
advice was, the flight would go ahead - however with the changing weather
conditions the snow landing would be determined on a minute by minute
basis. If the landing
was scrapped we would have additional flight time added to keep our trip to the
same length. Honestly we
were just happy to be able to take off.
Safety
briefing done, the loading crew led us to the helipads. They were
pretty cool. Looked a
little like landing pads for space craft. The pads are
made from the rocks that make up a large part of the landscape of the
area.
We
were given our assigned seats and Thomas (our pilot) got us sorted and strapped
in and off we went. I was a little
nervous as I have never been in a helicopter before and Robbie was a little
nervous as he has had some flights in a couple of military ones while he was in
the RAAF and this one was much much smaller.
For
me take off was the worst part. It really does
seem like it tips a long way forward when it moves off the ground. Lucky we are
belted in or we might have ended up in the front seats.
Our
first loop was past the Fox Glacier township, past waterfalls and streams,
through the mountains then over the mountain to see Fox Glacier itself. It does look a
little like dirty ice until you get closer. Thomas did a
great commentary of the region and what we were seeing.
It
was while we were flying over the glacier that we learned that we would be able
to land on the snow. It was just
beautiful. The snow was
pure white, a little icy, but soft enough to scoop up some up for a short
snowball fight. 😱🤣
We
wandered for a bit. Saw more of
Fox Glacier and then returned to our helicopter for our return flight over
Franz Josef Glacier.
The
vast difference between the 2 glaciers is amazing. The structure
of Franz Josef is totally different. While the
bottom of the glacier still looks a little dirty, as we flew higher up the path
it changed to an area with tall, wide cracks, pure white on top but clear blue
underneath. It was not
until we reached to top and began our decent around the other side that we
understood the size of the glacier. The group who
were doing the heli-hike tour were walking along one side. They looked
like ants beside the towering ice crags.
It
was then a short flight over the Franz Josef township and a safe landing.
We
had such a wonderful time. We were
blessed to have had such an experience, and did feel for any who had flights
booked for after us. Ours was the
last flight to take off for the day. The clouds
came in to nearly ground level and made not only snow landings impossible, but
flights unsafe as well.
We
then headed back to the cabin for a quick lunch then headed off to Gillespie's Beach for a bit of rock fossicking and to see the driftwood that washes
up.
It
was not as windy, which surprised me, and we wandered around for a bit checking
out the different rocks and some beautiful pieces of driftwood. If only there
was not a baggage weight restriction. 😞. So many
beautiful pieces.
As
we left the beach it had begun to rain and the clouds now covered most of the
mountains. In parts it
actually seemed like it came down to ground level.
Such
a full and wonderful day seeing beautiful sights. I am certain
we will sleep well tonight.
We
have put a short video compilation of our flight and snow landing on the
YouTube channel. It was too
large for the blog. You can check
it out here.
All
for now lovelies.
Stay
safe and keep enjoying life.
Rob and Liz
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