Punakaiki & Fox Glacier

Two updates in one as I try to catch you up with the adventures of the last ten days!

Punakaiki

Punakaiki is a quiet little place halfway from nowhere on the West Coast of the South island - a few hundred kilometers from Greymouth and Westport, the closest towns. There's no shop, no ATM or bank, no mobile phone reception. There is a pub and a café but they are quite pricey.

What you will find in Punakaiki are the Pancake rocks at Dolomite Point. As the name implies the Pancake rocks are a peculiar rock formation that look like stacks of pancakes. In favorable weather the rock formations also turn into stunning blowholes that blow seawater a couple of meters into the air.

After ticking Dolomite Point off our to-do list we headed back north to walk the Turner track, a one hour walk through native forest down to a grey beach surrounded by a limestone cliff and a spot of sun worshipping.

On our second day in Punakaiki we planned to walk along Buller Gorge for a half day walk, but alas, the heavens opened wide and all we could do was a quick run to Punakaiki Cavern before returning to the shelter of the Punakaiki Beach Hostel. With the rain pouring down all day we had no option but to stay indoors where we spent more than a few hours putting together a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle.

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Fox Glacier

A further few hundred kilometers down the We(s)t Coast you can find Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers, two towns 25km apart named after their respective glaciers. Though very tourist oriented, the towns do have a certain charm about them.

Our reason for stopping in Fox Glacier was to take part in a full day guided glacier walk:

At 9am we reported at the Fox Glacier Guides offices where we were outfitted with climbing boots, crampons, wooly hats, mittens etc and put into groups of 12. Our guide was a friendly Austrian called Walter Fox (no relation to the Fox after whom the glacier is named). A bus takes the group of walkers to the terminal face of the glacier, but before you do any walking on the ice there are 800 odd steps to be climbed through native rainforest. Fox Glacier is a truly amazing place for the wide range of habitats that are present in a short area - you walk through rainforest, subalpine terrain and finally are on the ice and in the mountains, and just a few kilometers away you will find the sea and great beaches.

Once on the ice walkers are also introduced to the Alpenstock - a sturdy wooden pole with a stud at the end, basically a rudimentary form of walking stick. While all the walkers were cosy in their woolies, our guide Walter was tramping around in shorts and t-shirt. The reason for his light clothing quickly became apparent as he started to swing his pick-axe to carve steps out of the raw ice.

The full day walk involves about five hours of walking on ice, and it is truly an amazing experience as you get to go high into the glacier, up close to crevasses and seracs, moulins and ice caves. All these ice formations come in a gamut of incredible hues of blue. As the day drew on the clouds caught up with us, replacing the warming morning sun with a chilly grey cover. Having made the most of what the ice could offer our party started the slow descent back to the terminal face of the glacier, where the bus was ready to take us back into town for a warm cuppa.

Glacier walking - an awe-inspiring experience that you should try if you get the occasion, the money's certainly worth it!