Aotearoa Part III - Glaciers

The next leg of our journey took us into Glacier country.  This is the home of Mount Cook and the Franz Josef & Fox glaciers. We stayed at a nice campsite in town but surrounded by lush rainforest. Yes ladies and gentlemen, a rainforest in town! Gotta love this country. This campsite was the location of my first shower after three days of humming and as that hot water cascaded onto my grubby bod I felt reborn.  The simple things really are glorious!
 
As the kids were too young we could not take them onto the glacier for an ice hike which was a shame. The only way to get onto the mountain and see the whole glacier was by taking a helicopter up to the top, 5000 odd feet off the ground for a ten minute play in the snow. Needless to say the price was tasty when I reserved it but we had come all the way and I really wanted the kids to see the glacier up close, not just from the front.
 
That said, the two hour walk to the front of the glacier was extraordinary. It has cut such a huge chasm that the valley walk was incredible. Sadly the ice is receding significantly like most of my male friends' hairlines. However, unlike them the poor glacier can't comb its hair forward to hide the fact so it is just receding its way back up the mountain side.
 
On the morning of our flight which was booked for 10am we woke to find the weather drizzly and the cloud very low. I had a bad feeling we would not be flying. I was right. The weather here is so changeable and apparently helicopters can't fly and land if it's cloudy, rainy dopey or grumpy.
 
By 4pm we were fairly despondent when we were turned away again even though the weather seemed to be brightening but the choppers weren't landing. Finally over the course of the day and four reschedules later we finally took to the air at 6.20pm. It was worth the wait. 

I have been in a helicopter before but a big chinook style thing when I was in combat in Vietnam (going to the Scilly Isles) but had never been in a normal bubble copter before. It was one of the most thrilling things I have ever done. The kids and I were as excited as those women who follow Benedict Cumberbatch around the world to see him on chat shows. We were actually whooping clapping and jumping up and down and shouting "oh my god... oh my god" much like those sad pathetic women do, ahem, I mean those loyal fans of his do, as we headed to the helicopter. It was the complete manifestation of being unable to contain oneself. When on earth did I last whoop?
 
Anyway it was just fantastic and landing on the top of this empty mountain covered in deep powdery snow with the most amazing views was other worldly. The real joy was the kids' faces. And I certainly had face ache by the time we got back from smiling so much.
 
Unfortunately my face changed after we returned to camp and on my camera going round the kids who wanted to see the photos, I found my one video that I took as the copter took off from the mountain and flew back down over the glacier had vanished. After much jumping up and down shouting "oh my god .... oh my god" and no whooping I found out my youngest had deleted it because "he didn't like his face in it". I was so upset. I still am. I hadn't even watched it. I know I experienced it but I am getting old forgetful and dense and really wanted that memory on film.
 
That night the children wanted to sleep above the drivers' cab which is accessed with a ladder. They are probably a bit too young but we thought it would be okay. My husband asked who we should put at the open end as they were more likely to fall out and hurt themselves. It was an easy choice.
 
Tomorrow we have a five hour drive south to Lake Wanaka and the time has come for some dirty work before we leave. My husband said that he would do all the driving, sort out the gas, electricity and water refills along with all the other drudge jobs if I empty the toilet waste in the morning. This is probably fair given I filled it the most with about five nervous excitement wee's before our helicopter flight.
 
It is beginning to honk in there too so the time has come. I have to say I am less offended by the smell of ones deposits than I am by the stink caused when they combine with the chemicals in the waste container. It really makes your toes curl.
 
I might make Arthur empty it tomorrow as punishment for deleting my video but he is such a klutz he will just end up dropping it and probably staining his whole body with blue loo. 

Next Week: New Year's Eve