New day has begun and we have a new destination! This time it is Franz Josef Glacier which is just around the corner. Only about 30 minutes away from Fox Glacier.
The day started with rain and we where not sure how much we will be able to see from the glacier but we went to see it anyway. When we arrived the rain was so heavy that we didn't even wanted to get out of the car, so we where waiting for it to stop. After some time the rain was gone and the sun came out. It was nice to see the sun for the first time in west coast of New Zealand. It is interesting how climate is changing here. We drove from one coast to another and saw green meadows, very dry areas, snowy mountains, and here we see jungle around us and glacier in front of us! I haven't been to another country where climate is changing so much and so fast.
So when the rain was almost gone, we started our hike to the Franz Josef Glacier. It takes about 1.5 hours as a round trip, but we wanted to take some photos so it took us a little longer.
This is area where weather conditions change rapidly and streams may rise without warning. The photo taken from information stand shows how the same place can change in just a couple of hours...
 |
| Weather Conditions at Franz Josef Glacier |
It is because of big cliffs that guide all the rain water to the valley. So the rain what we had before could cause the same changes in the valley. Here you can see how the glacier looked in 1867 ...
 |
| Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand -1867 |
Today we have to walk to the glacier much more because it is moving back every year. There is even forest growing in the place where the glacier was before. This is how it looks today...
 |
| Franz Josef Glacier and the Trail to it |
And all this valley once was covered in a glacier...
 |
| Franz Josef Glacier Valley |
In general what you see in photos is almost all what we saw and you can't see much more because of ice and rock falling hazards in this area. At all times we heard rocks falling from the cliffs around us. Rain water make these cliffs to brake down and fall in to the valley and some of those boulders are big. The weather for us could be better but I guess for the place where it rains almost every day during the winter and a lot in the summer, we where lucky to see the sun! :) Take a look at photos of Franz Josef Glacier and see yourself how big it actually is...
 |
| Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand |
 |
| Cloffs VS the Ice Wall of Franz Josef Glacier |
 |
| Melting Glacier Ice at Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand |
 |
| Martins at Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand |
 |
| Franz Josef Glacier Waterfalls in the Valley |
 |
| Warning! It's a Glacier! |
 |
| Falling Rock and Eva Just Below |
After this little tour we had enough time to see something else and because we had a couchsurfing host near Ross, then we decided to see what the town has to offer to us. At first we arrived and didn't expect much but Ross is famous with it's gold. It was established in the 1860s, during the West Coast Gold Rush, where it became an important centre for miners. At its largest, the town had around 2,500 inhabitants, but the population declined after local goldfields were depleted in the early 1870s. Quartz was occasionally mined on Mount Greenland, a nearby ridge, but little more gold was found until two miners discovered a large 3.1-kilogram nugget in 1909, which was later named the "Honourable Roddy Nugget", after Roderick McKenzie, the Minister for Mines at the time. Unfortunetely all tourism activities where closed at the time when we where there and all we could do was to go and see what was left from open-cut or open-pit where the mining happened and that was about it. Sad because we expected much more from this place. I guess the
goldfields mining centre was the place where to see it all in action... Well - we had a FunDay in Ross
anyway! :) We found our gold rubber and we took a look at the village buildings so not too bad in the end.
 |
| FunDay Road Trip at Ross Gold Town, New Zealand |
After our gold tour we went to see how our couchsurfing host Annie and her family is doing. They live in large house in the country side near to the Ross just by the sea. That is great location and we as a couchsurfers enjoyed our stay with Annie's family.
I remember how we first drove in to their backyard... They have 3 or more dogs and I think they all where welcoming us! :) Eva is a little scared of dogs and it was funny when she stayed in the car to wait till those dogs will be in safe distance, but when I stepped out of the car one of them immediately took the drivers seat and didn't want to leave our car! :) Eva was in shock! :D But still brave! :)
Almost right after we left our bags in our room we had a tour to private beach led by one of Annie's girls (Katie, if I am not wrong) and it turned out to be great. The beach was was not damaged by tourism and looked so wild! I believe that it is great to live in location like this! Take a look at the beach! It is so cool!
 |
| West Coast Beach, New Zealand |
After this walk to the beach Eva and girls (Katie and Jessica) started to get creative! :) They made some cupcakes with unique design o each of them! :)
 |
| Eva and Girls Making Cupcakes |
 |
| Cupcake Decoration Process |
 |
| Best Cupcakes in New Zealand |
Looks fantastic! Right?? Well I loved them! :) We had them with tea during nice chat about history and travelling. It was great evening and little things like this one we love, because people and activities are the ones who make us to remember great things much better! :)
See what we did during our next FunDay HERE!
No comments:
Post a Comment