The Franz
Waterfalls. Lakes. Valleys. Hills. Snow capped mountains. Rivers. Winding roads. And glaciers.As we drove from Dunedin to Wanaka and then Wanaka to Fox Glacier, i sat in awe of each of these things.
Amazing.
Beautiful.
You cannot but know these things were created by an awesome and loving God.
We have been blessed with good weather lately, a change from the rainy days in Dunedin, and I have been continually falling more and more in love with this country.
Eventually arriving in Fox Glacier yesterday was exciting. But also humbling, as you step out the door of your motel, or look out the window of this internet cafe, and are surrounded by mountains. Its beautiful. And the sunset last night - which eventually came about 9:30pm - through a few clouds and over the mountains, was breathtaking.
But what is incredibly more breaktaking, in every sense of the word, is what i experienced this morning.
8:30 I arrived the township of Franz Josef, where i was equiped with socks, a jacket, hiking boots, and cramp-ons. With out guide (Nick, who's from Canada, and very cool) we walked through some rainforest into the valley that led to the glacier. From a distance it is obvious this block of iceis rather large, decending from a mountain into the valley, but it is not until you notice the people in the distance who next to the glacier, are the size of ants, you realise just how massive this thing is.
And when you get to its base, this is definately reinforced.
This massive ice formation is apparently moving a metre a day at the moment, but i am very pleased that the only movement i could notice was the occassional rock or block of ice tumbling down a crevase.
The most amazing part of the journey was climbing the glacier - we have cramp-ons for a reason you know! Yes, with the aid of little ice stairs that had been freshly reformed this morning - and continually shapped by Nick as we climbed - we ascended the ice.
Ok, I have to admit, there were times i was a little scared. Several times. But overall, this was an amazing experience. We spent about 2 hours on the ice, and luckily, coming down wasnt nearly as frightening as i had thought.
Ice is amazing. The formations, the colours, the power. Yes, as I admired the view of the valley below and looked up at the kilometres worth of snow and ice, I was reminded that none other than the hands of our creator carefully moulded these wonders into existance. Amazing!
And we didnt even get to go to the top (that would take days.....or a helicopter flight)!
Aside from being a little frightened at times and been remineded of something I would rather not have thought of (long story), it was an awesome experience! Although I am glad that unlike Nick, I dont have to do it again this afternoon!
My camera is getting a lot of use and my memory cards are filling up fast, so when I return home I shall have some photos of this beautiful place to share with you all!
For now, I hope you are all well, i hope you all had a great Christmas, and I wish you all an even better new year!
In Him,
from Fox Glacier,
Chelsea
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