Glacier 2: The Fox

Day 23. Energized

Fox Glacier to Lake Paringa

Daily total: 80.24km Running Total: 1499.21km

Feeling recharged and more importantly, dry! The sun is making a rare come back appearance (with rain scheduled) so a detour to Fox Glacier and it's many geological ways to kill a person. From flash floods to avalanches to rock falls to other stuff. Bring it nature if you think your hard enough!!! 

Drowning and sharks!

I had to stop to read the warning...

Instead of snow, marvel at the tourists.

Multiple choices for death.

There was a massive chunk of ice just sat in the middle of the path. Odd being summer with no sign of snow/ice producing stuff close by. The stranger part was the number of people who were totally oblivious to this gate crashing block of ice. Not even a second look or an ounce of courisity to have such a block get there. 

Out of the two glaciers I prefer Fox but I prefer the walking at Franz Josef. You cannot get much more of an on an fence answer than that.

The road from Fox to Haast is 120km of virtually nothing. Just the odd camp site and motel scattered along the way, so you need to be fully stocked for the journey both in terms of food and entertainment. Stock up in Franz Josef as it has a Foursquare whilst Fox has a pricey small dairy. The road goes through rainforests and what not and does get a bit dull. There is a cafe about 10km from the camp site. 

And this fellow can be found along the route. Just chilling, guarding the cemetery.

Met a fellow cyclist at the camp site which was blessed with sand flies and drizzle, so we hung out by the toilets. We are a classy bunch. 

My tent is scattered with death. Just full on carnage, bodies of sand flies litter every surface and smeared into the sides of the tent but still they come. Undeterred by the death that surrounds them, they come in their droves. I'm growing despair towards the West Coast. 

Day 22. More glaciers to come

McDonald Campsite to Fox Glacier

Daily total: 37.24m Running Total: 1418.97km

There are 3 big hills from Frans Josef to Fox and they look scary as on paper but not that bad in real life. On paper the peak of some look like an acute angle. I'm sure the area would be stunning if it were not drenched in low laying cloud. It ain't called the wet coast for nothing. (Note to self: Rainforest! Remember you're in a rainforest! The clue is in the name dickhead! Now stop your moaning). 

Whilst on the hills, the road becomes over run with the Lycra brigade doing a charity bike race with their support vehicles and warm, dry place to stay and photographers and what not. Bastards. Although did get words of encouragement from a number of them. Although, I was subjected to way too much Lycra cladded arses for my liking. Where was boob flashing lady from the other day? That would have helped readdress the balance. As they raced up the hill, over taking each other and riding 3\4 abreast, I felt sorry for the drivers stuck behind them. Drivers passing me, thinking that is it for the cyclists only to make it around a bend to find a gaggle of lycra.

I did manage to ruin a photo opportunity for a few of the cyclists by getting in their photos. Haha cycling photobomb! 

Decided to stay in a hostel in Fox. $27! So I made full use of the hot showers, spa, sauna, teabags and any other free space/thing/consumables. As well as drying out my sodden passport on the electric heater. Trying to make the most of the free internet to catch up on the blog, which is a strange sentence to write, considering this entry won't appear for weeks. At the time of writing this, I am writing up the post about Westport. How distant and dry that all seems now...