We're on top of the world!

Monday October 27th (Labor Day)

Today we are heading to.....

We were very excited to go to the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers today, which was the main purpose for our West Coast trip this weekend. We were a little bit nervous with the bad weather yesterday that our planned activity would be cancelled, but as we got closer to the glaciers the weather started clearing. We knew we were close when we started seeing signs like the one above.

When we arrived at Fox glacier, we were not disappointed. We were going on a helicopter ride over the glaciers!!! I think the anticipation was showing as we got strapped in.

I don't know why Brian had his arm through that strap - maybe it makes him feel safe

WARNING - there are a lot of pictures in this post. We took about 200 pictures during this part of the trip so the fact that I cut it down to 43 is pretty good (in my opinion). But make sure you scroll down to the middle for an epic story.

As we lifted off, there was a lot of green and it was hard to believe we were going to viewing ice and snow capped mountains any time soon. I'm pretty happy with how a lot of the pictures turned out given that we were taking them through a window most of the time. We had a lot of fun passing the camera back and forth taking pictures of the views we each had out the window.

View as we entered the canyon where Fox glacier ends

The bottom of this pictures is where Fox glacier actually ends. It was pretty abrupt!

Here is the body of the glacier. It's crazy to me that this river of solid ice actually moves over time. It's definitely a force to be reckoned with. The contrast of colors is absolutely amazing and beautiful.

Close up of the ice. That blue ice underneath the dirt is fantastic. I guess it's the minerals in the water that make it turn that color - so interesting!

We never could have seen these amazing views from the base of the glacier if we had simply hiked to the bottom. This was definitely worth it!

Moving to the top of the glacier.

View of Fox glacier from the top. Although global warming has caused the glaciers to shrink, it's still pretty large!

We also got up close and personal with the peaks in the Southern Alps, including:

• Aoraki/Mt. Cook (highest peak)
• Mt. Tasman (2nd highest peak)
• Mt. Elie de Beaumont (highest peak North of Mt. Cook)

Mt. Cook

Another view of Mt. Cook

Tasman glacier

More cool views of the mountains...

This is the collection point for one of the glaciers. That means most of the snow that forms the glacier falls in this area

Franz Josef glacier

Now that we've flown around a bit, we are going to land on a mountain! Here is the flat spot that will serve as our landing pad.

We're ready to hop out.

It's time to get out of the helicopter. I wonder if the snow will be soft and fluffy or hard packed to walk on easily?  Survey say...hard packed! Good thing, I was a little worried about sinking into a snow drift or starting an avalanche.

The peak hidden by the clouds in the upper right hand corner is Mount Elie de Beaumont

Stupid clouds - get out of the way!

Our pilot is spraying the snow to help him land on later flights during the day - good thing since the fog is settling back in

Okay, here is the awesome story I promised in the warning at the beginning of my post. While we were enjoying the scenery on the mountain top, the pilot asked Brian how much he weighed. After Brian gave his best estimate, the pilot responded with "okay, I'm going to leave you where you are".

Now I don't know what that sounds like to you, but Brian showed some immediate and serious consternation. Brian's next question was "you're going to leave me up here?" Hahaha - he thought the pilot meant he couldn't get back on the helicopter, but he really just meant he was going to have to stay in the same seat in the helicopter. Usually the pilot switches the people around so everyone has a chance to ride in the front. We didn't get to do that, but I actually liked sitting in the back - we had way more room. The other couple was practically sitting on top of each other they were so squished.

We had a good laugh with the pilot about misconstruing what he said. Brian said he was very glad that he didn't have to stay because "he didn't have that many warm clothes with him" not that he would be sitting on a mountain by himself hoping someone would be coming back for him. Obviously his priorities are in check!

I'm kind of sad I put the camera on a bad setting for the pictures we took together - but you can sort of see us!

I had to Tebow on top of the mountain since I had also done it on top of the hill were they filmed the city of Edoras in LOTR 

A little pic of our pilot and the other couple in the heli with us. They were from Spain and really nice

Ready to get back in the helicopter and head back down

Good thing we didn't ask too many safety questions before our trip started or we may have chickened out. Our pilot said he has been flying since 1986. Every few years a helicopter crashes up here and all the people he trained with are dead. I guess we were lucky he was our pilot? As you can tell, we made it back safe and sound.

There was a little lake in between two of the peaks with the most beautiful blue water. The picture doesn't quite do it justice, but you can tell how unique the color was. I bet it was cold! 

Leaving the mountains and re-entering the valley

It's hard to tell, but our pilot made a really sharp turn that put us almost sideways as we came in to land. That's us looking straight down to the ground out Brian's window!

Safely home and the next group getting loaded up

As we left "Glacier Country", we had to make a few additional stops. For those of you who know us, know that we play World of Warcraft. The people who give out the quests in the game have an exclamation point over their heads. So when we saw these signs for cattle crossings, we had to take pictures. In the second pic, I've officially become a quest giver!

The rainforest we drove through was beautiful...is there anything in this part of the world that isn't?

 The Whataroa River was an amazing color of blue as well. It could have passed for the ocean. There is so much gorgeous scenery in this country - I absolutely love it!

Our last picture is another sign indicating that you should be cautious when the roads are wet. Brian loves this sign because the tire skidmarks are impossible to create. I'll leave it to you to figure out why. Enjoy!

Whitebait Passion in Hokitika

Sadly, Sunday brought colder weather and rain. We all hopped in the car and went to the Greymouth branch for sacrament meeting. Brian and I didn't know beforehand that there was a branch there, so we didn't have church clothes. I can't remember ever going to church in street clothes before and I was a little embarrassed, but I guess it was better than not going at all.

Of course I got asked to play the piano (err, keyboard) - I think they were glad to not have to use a recording for once and I was glad I could help. There was extra time at the end of the meeting so the Branch President asked the visitors if they'd like to share anything. Brian took up the mantle for our merry little group and gave a great little impromptu talk.

After church, we decided to take a drive South of Greymouth to nearby Hokitika. Before we got there, we noticed some art in front of one of the houses. What kind of art you ask? Why, toilet art of course! So the boys decided they would pose with it - even in the rain it was worth it lol.

Brian and Aaron Downes "using the facilities"

Hokitia is a very small town with basically some tourist shops and the beach. We did find a little museum that we decided to walk through to pass some of the afternoon. The museum was in an old library and I just loved the old and classic look to it. It's a beautiful building.

The main thing we learned about the West Coast during our tour of the museum is that Kiwi's love their whitebait. Have no idea what I'm talking about? Here's the description from the museum.

This is some dried whitebait along with my "its icky" face

There's even a game!

...and art. This is a picture of 5 whitebait swimming

There were some other interesting things to see at the museum besides the whitebait.

Brian loves his clubs. These weapons were all made of jade/greenstone, which is abundant on the West coast

Silvia is taking a little rest in a large smelting pot. I'm not sure if it was comfortable or not, but she looks happy! 

I had to take a picture with this awesome antique piano

There was also some wonderful art in the museum, including these arrangements made out of dyed flax. It's so cool what they can do with plants.

 One last picture of the museum to show a little more of its "character".

We did a little more scenic driving on our way back to Greymouth to say goodnight and goodbye to the Downes'. We are off to see the glaciers tomorrow and our friends are heading home. Thanks again Aaron and Silvia for spending part of your weekend with us. And congratulations on your six year anniversary!

I'm adding a little more about Hokitika here because Brian and I stopped here again on Monday after visiting the glaciers and it just seemed to fit better here. Monday was much nicer weather than Sunday, so we stopped by the beach. 

I love the flavor of small towns. They have used driftwood to construct a sign on the beach. So cool. Also, Ike makes his first appearance! He has been with us the whole time, but dogs weren't allowed on the walks we took in Punakaiki so he had to stay behind.

Having trouble with the phone, but what a cute smile

The pictures of me are meant to be viewed together. I am standing in basically the same spot as Brian did, and as you can see from the first picture, it looks pretty safe. 

Then out of nowhere a huge wave crashed on the beach and totally soaked my pants above the knees. And that water was cold!!! Ike wasn't too happy about that either...

And Brian makes his traditional West Side pose. We had planned to put our feet in the ocean on both the West and East coasts today as we were driving back to Christchurch that afternoon. But several delays (including an accident) and bad weather rolling into Christchurch put us back in town pretty late and we didn't get it done. But we could have and that's the important thing!