An Unexpected Journey - Eight

April 17, 2016

After a nice breakfast at the George, we bade goodbye to Christchurch and the beautiful Pacific coast, and headed west into the heart of the South Island.  The vast Canterbury Plains soon gave way to rocky, majestic mountains, in contrast to the softer, rolling mountains of the North Island.

We interrupted our over-four-hour drive with a stop at the breathtaking Lake Tekapo.  This highest lake in New Zealand is so stunningly turquoise blue it doesn't seem real.  The unusual color comes from the fine rock particles that are suspended in the glacier-fed water, reflecting that particular hue from the color spectrum.  Photographs don't begin to do it justice.

We were pressed for time, with an afternoon reservation for a tour at 2 p.m., but we couldn't resist stopping for pictures more than once; the scenery was just so stunning.

One of the most photographed landmarks in the region is the Church of the Good Shepherd, a beautiful old, stone church circa 1935 that looks out onto Lake Tekapo.  There is a bronze sheepdog statue nearby, a tribute to the contribution these dogs have made to the community here.

rabbits in the churchyard

From Lake Tekapo we headed southwest, passing by the southern end of  Lake Pukaki.  From there we turned north, with little time to enjoy the beautiful lake on our right and the mountains on our left.  We arrived at Mt. Cook Village with little time to spare.

Mt. Cook Village has only a handful of buildings - a large hotel and the dorms that house the people who work in the village.  These are the only people allowed to live in this village inside Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park.  So it wasn't too difficult to find our hotel, the Hermitage.  We parked out front, and Tim went to check in to our room while I queued up to sign in for our tour.  Forms had to be filled out and signed, and Tim was taking the luggage upstairs.  After a few nervous moments (on my part), we met up in the lobby just as the bus was loading.  The hotel kindly agreed to let us leave our car out front until after the tour.

The bus for Glacier Explorers had maybe 25 or 30 people on board, and headed back out the way we'd come in, turning off onto a gravelly road that seemingly lead nowhere.  Tim was hoping he could discreetly slip his knee wraps on at the back of the bus, but a family of young kids clambered into the seats behind us.  It was startling to hear unmistakable Thai tones coming from some nearby passengers - strangely made us feel at home.  Guess they were escaping the crazy Songkran Festival, too.

We were let off amid the great moraine deposits and embarked on the trail ahead.  We were told if we couldn't keep up we would be asked to return to the bus, but Tim ducked into the little restroom and secured his knee wraps, quickly catching up with the group.  The group had become so spread out that the guides soon gave up trying to do a head count.  It was a good cardio workout huffing up and down the trail, but we were solidly in the middle of the pack - so glad we weren't last!  We finally reached our destination on the shore of the Tasman Glacier terminal lake.

Packs were not allowed on the boats, so plywood "lockers" were provided.  We all deposited our things and got suited up with life vests, then headed down to the small dock area.  Ten or twelve to a boat, we settled in and were whisked off into the lake.  Our captain clearly enjoyed being at the wheel, and that made it fun for us as well.

another boat on the lake

 Lake Tasman is a milky gray color, from the rock flour that is generated by the grinding of the glacier along the bedrock.  Small ponds from the 1970's have merged and grown into a 7 kilometer long lake as the glacier continues to melt and calve.  The 2011 earthquake caused 30- to 40 million metric tons of ice to drop into the lake, hastening its growth.

The Tasman Glacier is New Zealand's longest glacier at over seventeen miles long.  The lower end of the glacier that terminates at the lake is completely rock-covered - quite surprising for many of us who expected a snowy white expanse.  The face of the glacier is black with rock, and is retreating at a startling 1500 to 2500 feet every year.  It is expected to completely disappear in ten to twenty years' time, when Lake Tasman will reach its capacity.  The harsh reality of global warming - so unimaginable.

Tasman Glacier terminus

We were able to get up close and personal with some of the icebergs floating in the water.  We could reach out and easily break off chunks of ice.  They are not actually huge, single pieces of ice; rather, they are ice that has been compacted over time with pockets of air that bubble and fracture as the sun reaches them.  Our guide asked if anyone wanted to take a piece with them, which we though was a joke.  But he said this compacted ice is very slow to melt.  We didn't take any with us, but we did have a taste!

on board the Scirocco

the bluish ice is where the air pockets were bubbling

Too quickly our time on the water was over, and we cast off our life vests and made the trek back to the bus.  People were being quite pokey, stopping for lots of photographs; this must be a bit maddening for the guys who run the operation, but they were all pleasantly patient, or patiently pleasant?

On the drive back, our guide recommended a visit to the Chamois Bar for dinner, as opposed to the hotel restaurant.  After going to our room, which turned out to be quite a hike from the front lobby, we drove down the road to the Chamois.  They didn't serve food for another hour, so we enjoyed the mountain view, and I watched Tim play himself in darts - guess who won?  Had a nice dinner and enjoyed people-watching with the many nationalities gathered there.  

Never knew a chamois was a goat!