So I woke up to the sound of helicopters, which was good news for me and Tom. It meant that the skies were clear enough for helicopter to be running tours to the two nearby glaciers, Franz Josef and Fox. I quickly jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera and walked out to the courtyard and … dada … brilliant views to the Franz Josef glacier. YAY!
By 8:30, Tom and I were walking to SnakeBite brewery for breakfast and along the way we ran into a group of kea, the wild mountain parrot found in this area. Now Tom and I has seen a kea the night before squawking from a roof, but these four kea were intent on tearing the rubber off the roof of a car. Seriously. Apparently kea love rubber and as a result, New Zealand cars in this area bear the brunt of the kea love. To say there is little love lost between the locals and the kea is an understatement, but the bird is highly endangered so … they pretty much have the run of the town.
We spent a few minutes watching the birds peck at the rooftop of the car before moving on to the restaurant for breakfast and by 9:15 we were checked in with Glacier Valley Eco Tours for our hike to Franz Josef glacier. Now there are three ways to reach the glacier: (1) helicopter with a hike; (2) simply hike to the viewing area without a guide on the main path; and (3) hike to the viewing area through the rainforest to the glacier. We were going with option #3. Our guide for the hike was Tyler, a rather large Kiwi who had a wealth of knowledge about the biosphere in the area.
We were joined on our hike by four other folks, a couple from York, England and a father and daughter from Rhode Island. By 9:30, we had piled in the van and were off for the 10 minute drive to the parking area below the glacier.
Once at the car park, we were able to have a pretty good view of Franz Josef glacier before even starting out on the hike. The weather was cooperating and more and more blue sky was appearing.
So we started out the hike along the main path to the glacier viewpoint before veering into the rain forest where Tyler’s knowledge of the plants and biology became evident. Now what I found fascinating was that we were walking through a semi-tropical rain forest at the base of an ancient glacier. There is no way to rationalize this except to say that at one time, the glacier covered the entire area and over the centuries the glacier has gradually receded and given way to warmer temperatures and semi-tropical plants.
Anyway, first up on our exploration of the rainforest was a pepper tree. Tyler told us that the reddish leaves were edible and handed me a leaf to try. Now what Tyler did not say was the I was to only take a pinch off the leaf. Instead, I made the mistake of sticking the whole leaf in my mouth and … YOWZA … spiiiiicy!
We then moved on to a fuchsia tree that actually bares fruit and I found the little berries were incredibly yummy. In fact, I could have stood there and eaten all the berries off the tree.
And as we continued to walk, Tyler told us that this rainforest is filled with epiphyte plants, which are any plants that grow on another plant or object merely for physical support. In other words, epiphytes are not parasitic (i.e. they do not suck nutrients from the host plant). I found this fascinating as most of the plants I have seen attached to other plants are parasitic and eventually kill the host. I actually saw tons of these types of plants in Africa last October.
Anyway, we continued on across a bridge above the bed of the dry Waiho River, which was filled with beautiful quartz rocks, before eventually veering to the right and hiking up the hillside over some very slippery rocks and moss to reach a landing area where we were able to see a lovely waterfall flowing into the Waiho River. Tyler told us that the area we were standing on would be flooded for around 9 months out of the year, but at this time of the year there is little rains and the rainforest dries out quickly allowing us to hike to the waterfall.
We then hiked back down and into the rainforest where we weaved in and out of the low hanging plants before making our way back to the main path where we joined all the other tourists hiking to the viewpoint.
It was a short five minute walk up the gravel hill to the lookout point where we were met with spectacular views. And it was at this point that I made a fatal mistake. We ran into a couple Tom and I had met on one of our tours in Christchurch and as they were peppering me with questions about what we were doing in Franz Josef, I decided to take off my sweater given that it was quite warm and in doing so, I bent down to stick my sweater into my backpack and … crunch … between the heat and the questions, I had forgotten that I had put my sunglasses in my pocket when we were hiking through the dark rainforest. I immediately felt sick to my stomach. The left arm of beloved sunglasses (yep those same sunglasses that I had left in the Jo’berg airport last October only to find them again on my return) had snapped off. I immediately cursed myself for being so stupid. And while Maui Jim will most definitely be able to repair the sunglasses when I return home, I will now have to revert to my backup Maui Jim sunglasses … which were sitting in my suitcase back in Christchurch. (I only brought a small overnight bag for the 6 days we are on the road before returning to Christchurch.) So now I would have to find an interim pair until I return to Christchurch next week. Ugh!
In the meantime (after some rather profane language), I decided to let it go for the time being and concentrate on the fabulous view of the glacier in front of me and two small waterfalls. We spent about 20 minutes at the viewpoint looking at the various glacier lines and learning that as recently as 1908, the glacier had actually extended to the viewpoint wall. Now, sadly, the glacier is rapidly shrinking as there is insufficient snow and freezing temperatures to prevent the glacier from shrinking.
After spending some time with the glacier, we next moved back into the rainforest for a short hike to the Waiho river bed where we were able to walk along the rocks and take in the glacier from a different angle.
We then walked to the other side of the riverbed where we made a brief tea and coffee stop. As we enjoyed our break, Tyler drew a map of New Zealand in the sand and explained to us the two tectonic plates (Australia and the Pacific) that cause trouble (earthquakes) for New Zealand. It was a fascinating discussion about geology and the movement of the earth.
Tyler then led us back into the rainforest and up a series of rock steps to another part of the Waiho River where we waded through the shallow river to the other side and then up, up, up the hillside through the damp rainforest where we eventually found even ground before we bobbed and weaved around low hanging branches and eventually ended up back in the parking lot where we started.
Once in the parking lot, we were able to take a quick tour of Defiance Hut, a small cabin that had once sat on the Franz Josef glacier and which had been used by hikers who would spend the night there. The cabin was complete with kitchen and beds.
And in order to preserve the cabin, it had been moved to the parking lot area and was now its own tourist attraction. However, I thought the best part of the Defiance Hut was the incredible pictures on the sign nearby including a picture of women hiking in long sleeved blouses, long skirts and hats. Yowza!
So with our hike over, Tom and I headed back to our motel and spent a couple hours hanging out in small deck area fronting our rooms. Around 3:30 we headed to the West Coast Wildlife Center across the street from our motel to take in the kiwi rescue and breeding center.
We wandered through the center learning about the 5 different breeds of kiwi before entering the nocturnal house, which replicates the “kiwi habitat” and today housed two young kiwi: Tiu and Sammy. Now the nocturnal house was almost completely dark because kiwi only move at night so the two little kiwi were operating as if it was nighttime and then when the center closes, the lights come up and the kiwi go to bed.
Anyway, once our eyes adjusted to the dark area, we could see Tiu moving around sniffing for food with his long beak. We spent some time watching Tiu before moving on to try and find Sammy, who proved to be a bit elusive hiding in the corner. However, periodically we could hear Sammy moving around and eventually we were able to see him as the long orange beak came into view. (Sadly no pictures allowed.)
Once we left the viewing area, we watched a couple videos on what is being done to protect the kiwis and the history of the glaciers in the area and then called it good.
Tomorrow, Tom and I are spending the morning doing a boat trip on Lake Mapourika along with a hike to the Okarito Kiwi Sanctuary and then late in the day we are going to kayak on Lake Mapourika. Should be fun.
