15/02: Glaciers and More
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
I drove on the wrong side of the road today. The trick is to figure out where you as the driver need to sit on the road but then that's the trick with driving isn't it. Oh and then there's remembering where the controls are. The wiper control and light controls are switched. I turned on the wipes several times when I meant to indicate a turn.
I forgot to mention another “small world” thing in yesterday’s blog. When Ed was standing in the observation car on the train taking photographs the woman beside him was from Toronto and the man beside him was from Kincardine.
Apparently we experienced typical New Zealand west coast weather today. Beautiful sunny sky this morning followed by pouring rain this afternoon and a sunny sky this evening. Made for some interesting site seeing.
Another shot of the glacier from the motel this time using a telephoto lens. Morning sun does make everything look better.
We passed a number of waterfalls during our walk to the Franz Josef Glacier viewing area.
We’re still a fair distance from the glacier but this photo has blue sky in it. By time we reached the glacier viewing area the sky had clouded over.
Looking back at where we hiked.
What the glacier looks like close up …. Using Ed’s telephoto lens.
A sign on a post indicated that the viewing platform was 750 metres from the glacier. I was looking at helicopters landing and taking off from the glacier. The helicopters were landing in front of the dark spot on the glacier.
Fox Glacier from a viewing area. Due to recent storm damage to the trails you couldn’t hike to the closer viewing area.
The skies opened up and the rain poured down but the cows didn’t seem to mind at all.
Lake Matheson, known for it's reflections of the mountains still managed to reflect close objects in the rain, though not as good as in the sun. Its excellent reflecting properties are due to the dark brown colour of the water – the result of organic matter leached from the humus of the forest floor.
Late in the afternoon the sky cleared. We drove to Okarito, a small village on the Tasmam Sea about 30 minutes drive from Franz Josef. We followed the Trig Walk to a view point and we rewarded with views of the mountains, Okarito Lagoon and the Tasman Sea.
The Okarito Lagoon where it meets the Tasman Sea.
We met this little fellow on the trail and we're quite surprised when he hopped up to Ed and started pecking at his boot.
I forgot to mention another “small world” thing in yesterday’s blog. When Ed was standing in the observation car on the train taking photographs the woman beside him was from Toronto and the man beside him was from Kincardine.
Apparently we experienced typical New Zealand west coast weather today. Beautiful sunny sky this morning followed by pouring rain this afternoon and a sunny sky this evening. Made for some interesting site seeing.
Another shot of the glacier from the motel this time using a telephoto lens. Morning sun does make everything look better.
We passed a number of waterfalls during our walk to the Franz Josef Glacier viewing area.
We’re still a fair distance from the glacier but this photo has blue sky in it. By time we reached the glacier viewing area the sky had clouded over.
Looking back at where we hiked.
What the glacier looks like close up …. Using Ed’s telephoto lens.
A sign on a post indicated that the viewing platform was 750 metres from the glacier. I was looking at helicopters landing and taking off from the glacier. The helicopters were landing in front of the dark spot on the glacier.
Fox Glacier from a viewing area. Due to recent storm damage to the trails you couldn’t hike to the closer viewing area.
The skies opened up and the rain poured down but the cows didn’t seem to mind at all.
Lake Matheson, known for it's reflections of the mountains still managed to reflect close objects in the rain, though not as good as in the sun. Its excellent reflecting properties are due to the dark brown colour of the water – the result of organic matter leached from the humus of the forest floor.
Late in the afternoon the sky cleared. We drove to Okarito, a small village on the Tasmam Sea about 30 minutes drive from Franz Josef. We followed the Trig Walk to a view point and we rewarded with views of the mountains, Okarito Lagoon and the Tasman Sea.
The Okarito Lagoon where it meets the Tasman Sea. We met this little fellow on the trail and we're quite surprised when he hopped up to Ed and started pecking at his boot.