Low cloud postponed our trip from 9 to 11.30am. But when the sun came out we were up, up and awaaaay!! We had a fantastic flight: Chester and I were in the front seats near the pilot and there was another couple seated behind. We traversed along the side of the Southern Alps to ascend Fox Glacier, up to Mount Cook and over the divide to view the long and almost horizontal Tasman Glacier. We landed at on a wide snowfield, jumped out of the helicopter to throw snowballs at each other and make blue footprints all in hot sunshine, then zig-zagged over the crevices of Franz Josef Glacier on our descent. Just the most tummy leaping experience – it was 40 minutes of fabulousness, a real highlight of our trip! We felt even luckier after hearing that about one in three trips to Mount Cook are cancelled due to the poor weather the Tasman Sea conjures up and throws at it. On a high we drove out towards the coast to take in the reflections of the great mountains in Lake Matheson but the wind had crept up and we continued on to Gillespies Beach/ Here we free camped (with a few others) and watched the sun turn the Alps pink behind us as it set into the sea.
1 comment:
It was no good, Kate & Chester would have to come clean. They didn't hike up the glacier, but had flow up! After a heavy landing and Kate got a foot stuck in the ice! No matter how hard they flapped they couldn't fly free!Thank goodness someone sent a helicopter to rescue them!
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