NZ Adventures #8: Traversing Beach to Glacier in One Amazing Day

Earth Date:  Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Today we turn inland from the West Coast towards the west side of the Southern Alps.  I'm eager to see more of New Zealand, but I'm also sad to leave the West Coast behind.  Hey, we're still in FREAKING NZ!  Just checking to make sure that you're still with me.  We're on day 8, and it would be easy for you to lose interest... but don't.  Today we'll learn about the fervor with which the New Zealanders harvest possum wool.

Greymouth

Greymouth is the largest town on the West Coast map with a bustling population of 9,700 as of 2018, but it didn't seem much bigger than a blip.  The mighty TranzAlpine train stops here from Christchurch on the East Coast.

It sits at the mouth of the Grey River, thus "Greymouth."  See what they did there?

We got a bite to eat at the DP1 Squared as recommended by a friend.  Eh.  Hair in my food.  I don't think they believe in hair nets in NZ.  It's an au naturale kind of place, which I appreciate.  But minus the hair in the food.  This wasn't the first time.

We ate, strolled along the Greymouth Flood Wall, snapped a pic of the Coal Miners' Memorial and then we were off to Hokitika.

The Coal Miners' Memorial remembers those souls lost during coal mining accidents in the West Coast area.  Names were engraved on the black marble base, and there were many.

Hokitika

33 minutes south of Greymouth is Hokitika, where we stopped  for a shopping stroll along the main drag.

At one time, Hokitika was THE place on the West Coast.  Center of the West Coast Gold Rush.  But we know how gold rushes turn out.  And today, there's not much to it.  But like all the mini West Coast towns, it's cute.

We walked along Weld Street, which is their main street.  Past the inviting Hokitika Town Clock and down to the Hokitika driftwood sign on the beach.  Seems like all the other tourists in Hokitika where also at the driftwood sign, so we settled for the beach access version, complete with Christmas lights.

Check out that beautiful blue sky.

Jayme indulged me in a shopping stroll, so we walked through the main city center looking for fun lootz to bring home.

I wanted to bring home some specialty wool fibers for a good friend, so we stopped into Sock World.  We found yarn aplenty indeed, as well as wool socks for Dad.  Sock knitting machines abound at Sock World.  They are pretty neat looking.  Knitting socks with them is called cranking.  Umhmmm. (I'm on to you knitting-types.  #gimleteyeonPetra)  And apparently knitting aficionados come from world-over to check out the museum part of Sock World.  Doing homework after our visit to Sock World, I learned that Jacquie Grant, the proprietor of Sock World, is an expert on sock knitting machines, collecting and refurbishing them, and has turned a hobby into a business.

Anyways, I was checking out at the cashier with our lootz, and I asked, "Tell me something cool about this yarn I'm buying.  It's for a friend, and I'd like to share something interesting about it."  We'd scoped out hand-dyed yarns, and picked out a colorful skein.  A woman sitting at a knitting machine near the counter looked up and with much glee in her eyes and a snarl on her face said something like "let me tell you how we harvest the possum wool. We shoot them between the eyes and rip the fur out while they're still warm."  My mouth fell open and I could feel Jayme looking over at me.  Graciously, he's like "Oh hey, that's interesting.  Thanks.  Ok, time to go."  We walked along a bit, then had a good laugh once the shock cleared.  I'm thinking I either can't tell Petra this story or I can't give her this yarn.  But in hind-sight, we had a great chuckle.  New Zealanders are united in their hatred for the fertile possum (which they also introduced to the ecosystem, I'd like to add).  And in doing research after visiting Sock World, Ms Grant herself claims, "I'm legendary for being grumpy." Indeed.

I learned another interesting tidbit about Ms Grant.  She was among the early transgender folk in NZ and the first to receive a Queen's Birthday Honour (#noidea), when she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.  She's now an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.  Sounds prestigious.  Yeah, kinda.  Read more here.  She is a prominent figure in NZ human rights and transgender advocacy.  Go her!  And kinda neat to meet a quasi-dignitary.

Petra, hope you knit up some socks for a good meatatarian friend.

And it's time to keep south on Highway 6 and turn inland just a bit to check out a glacier.  'Cuz we can, yo.  It's just under a 2 hour drive, so we settle in for some lovely sight-seeing.

Franz Josef Glacier

We arrive in Franz Josef just in time to check-in to our hotel and rest up for an evening tramp to the glacier.  Hotel stays have become an adventure, too.  It's like a lottery -- how nice will this one be?  Good choice for this night -- nice big bed with a beautiful view.

Our hotel is on the outskirts of Franz Josef, and when we get into town it's like BAM America has descended on NZ.  Why?  Why of all the beautiful spots we've seen would they be swarming in Franz Josef village, which is maybe a mile's stretch of a few restaurants, motels and adventure rentals + fire station & church?  Again, #noidea.  But there are hordes, and most of them are in the one tiny grocery store in the village.  Maybe I just answered my question.  Apparently in high season there can be upwards of 2,700 tourists in the area per day.  And residents?  330-ish.

We drive on through the village and head to the parking lot at the base of the glacier, 'cuz why start at the trail, when you can like drive most of the way to a glacier.  Again, 'cuz we can.

Franz Josef Glacier, aka Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere, is on the western edge of the Southern Alps in the Westland Tai Poutini National Park.  It descends to less than 300 meters above sea level.  Thus we can get a good view of it from a fairly easy hiking trail.

As we round the bend, lovely waterfalls come into view -- ice melts making their way down the mountain to the Waiho River.

Can you spot the glacier off in the distance?  We creep ever closer, passing multiple falls on our right.

The glacier was named for Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria by the German explorer Julius von Haast in 1865.  We meet Mr Haast tomorrow.

What's with the habit of naming sites for those who probably never saw it anyways?  Why not after your favorite kid or a wife?  Srsly.

Then we're at a milestone showing where the glacier was in 1960.  All the dirt and rock debris is the terminus of the glacier and gets left behind as the top of the glacier melts and recedes.

The global average temperate has risen 0.91 degrees from 1960 to 2016, driven by the significant rise in the global population -- from approx 3 million to 7.4 million.  And that change in the global average temperate has caused the glacier to recede that much.  Crazy.





And here's where it was in 2009.  0.28 degree difference in temperature in a seven year span, with a population increase of under 1 million. 

Go visit the glaciers, Friends.  Soon we will be without.

In case you feared for our safety, baby face kept us on the track.  The terminal face (the snow meeting all the rocks) is unstable and so now, only helicopter flights are required to visit the glacier.

This is as close to the glacier as they safety rails allowed.  I was tempted to just keep slogging to get to the edge.  Rules, eh.  But we really try hard to not be "those Americans."

And look how the weather shone blue upon our trek.  Thick clouds sat on either ridge of the glacier, but opened up just above it.  Lovely.

Whelp, maybe I mis-spoke on the safety front.  Jayme was tempted to enter the falling zone, on the dare of an un-named influence (/cough Jeremy).

And that Friends, is how you traverse from lovely tropical beach to cool glacier.  Thank you, NZ!

PS - You know who else thought Franz Josef was cool?  Peter Jackson.  Lighting of the Beacons anyone?  Filmed specifically at Mount Gunn, which is accessible only via helicopter.

You know what's special about the ninth episode?  Waterfalls.  Check it out here.