Friday January 15, 2010
What a morning!! The clouds and drizzle from the previous day disappeared overnight and we woke to a glorious morning of sun and clear skies, perfect for our excursion to the glaciers today.
The girls were quite excited to find out that they would be going on their first helicopter ride. Eleven years ago, Carolyn and I went hiking on the glaciers so this time we dug deep into our pockets and paid for a 30-minute helicopter ride over the glaciers and the Southern Alps. Truth be told, I was too nervous to hike with the kids on the glaciers…they make me nervous at the best of times on regular hiking trails let alone on ice with deep crevices nearby!
It was a perfect day and the vista was extraordinary. We flew up Franz Josef glacier, across the tops of the mountains, saw some of the Tasman glacier (cloud cover here), and then landed on the top of a mountain. The girls were thrilled with this part. They couldn’t believe they were allowed to run around in the snow and have a snowball fight on the peak of a mountain!! From this vantage point we had excellent views of Mt Cook (tallest peak in NZ) and of Mt Tasman. The majesty of our surroundings was so breathtaking that sometimes I forgot to take pictures because I was so mesmerized. Of course, then I got into trouble from Carolyn who loves to take a thousand pictures of everything!
Amelia said that the best part of today’s adventure was the snow ball fight at the top.
Bridget said the coolest part was taking off. I think she likes the helicopter better than plane rides since she asked if we could take a helicopter ride home instead of a plane.
Thank you to Jan Morley who suggested we do the helicopter thing. It was worth the money.
We then travelled to Greymouth this afternoon to spend the night before we head off to Nelson tomorrow for a couple of days. In Nelson we are going to catch up with John Walker who was my department head when I taught here in New Zealand.
Only 6 more days till we leave…
Dianne
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