I Flew!

   It looks like my luck, and the weather, is finally starting to turn around! It’s still freezing here, but at least it’s not raining or snowing anymore! In fact, Saturday was the perfect day – there were hardly any clouds in the sky. Thomas and I woke up early to get a head start on our big day of driving and seeing glaciers. Since the weather held us back, we only had one day to get there and see everything. We were kind of in a hurry, but we stopped at the pancake rocks in Punakaiki on the way out of town. They are huge outcroppings of perfectly layered rock, and scientists aren’t quite sure how they formed. They were pretty amazing to see, and it was weird to think that those rocks were under the sea so long ago.

So cool!!

Pancakes!

Soo patriotic.

   The walk around the pancake rocks was quick, and soon we were on our way to the glaciers. We got to Franz Josef first, after three hours of gorgeous driving. The township was small and cute, and we could see mountains along the whole drive. We stopped to take pictures a lot! Once we got into the town of Franz Josef, we stopped at the information center and booked a scenic flight of both the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. I suppose it’s a good thing I didn’t fly in Kaikoura, so I got the chance to fly over the glaciers.

I spy glaciers!

Such a beautiful drive. 

We stopped to take pictures a lot.

ANXIOUS.

   We didn’t have long before our flight after we booked. We drove over to the flight center, checked in, and waited a bit. I was so nervous! I’ve never been in a small plane before so I had no idea what to expect. When the time came for our flight, we took a shuttle over to the runway. It was so small! We weren’t so much at an airport as we were at a field full of sheep with a little runway in the middle. We saw the plane, met Tony our pilot, and waited a bit before it was time to take off.

Hey Tony!

   The plane had 8 seats, but Thomas and I were the only ones booked for the day. We chatted with Tony a bit, and he was so so nice! He explained everything to us before we took off, which calmed my nerves a little bit.

   Finally, we were on the runway and ready to takeoff. It was so smooth! I didn’t expect it from such a small plane, but the first 10 minutes of our flight was perfect. We headed towards the ocean first, and could see along the coast line for miles. It was so beautiful so see the river running into the ocean, the little towns, and big hills. After a loop near the coast, we headed over to Fox glacier. Seeing the glacier from above was so spectacular. Actually, seeing a glacier at all was spectacular! It looked just like a big frozen river. From there we flew near some mountains, and could see all the snow and ice on top up close. We then flew to the Franz Josef glacier and circled around there before heading back to the runway. Once we started flying over the mountains, it got pretty bumpy. We hit one HUGE bump, and I jerked out of my seat! Scary! I started to feel sick towards the end because we were hitting so many bumps and the plane was all over the place. It was the coolest experience though, and I’m so glad I did it, even if I was scared! The flight was BEAUTIFUL and I have so many lovely pictures to remember it.

And we're off! 

The glacial river draining to the sea.

So pretty! And not bumpy yet!

We could see foreverrr along the coast.

The Fox glacier township.

Mountains = bumps. 

Fox glacier. Wow!

The bottom of Fox looking out to the ocean.

Mountains! Lots of them!

The Franz Josef glacier.

We got soo close to Franz Josef!

ICE!

Looking out along the coast.

The Franz Josef township. Can you see the runway?

Franz Josef again.

Not as much snow, but still just as pretty!

We made it! We're landing!

   After we landed, Tony gave each of us a “certificate of bravery” as he called it. I guess he knew how nervous I was! He was great though, and has been flying for 17 years. I felt so safe with him.

We survived!

   I needed a little bit of time to settle down after such an eventful flight, and absorb all the gorgeous scenery I had just seen. We didn’t have much time to waste though, because of the silly weather in Christchurch. We wanted to do as much as possible, so immediately after the flight, we drove to the carpark for the Franz Josef glacier and walked to the base of it. It took over an hour to get to the glacier, walking through the river valley. We couldn’t get too close to it for safety reasons, but we close enough to see it well. It was so interesting to see the glacier from air and on land. We saw the sun set on the top of the mountains, and then walked back to our van. Brrr!

Walking to Franz Josef. We felt so small!  

Quite a climb up there. Check out the sun set!

Franz Josef from the bottom. Ranger gave me a high five for walking so far!

   What an eventful Saturday we had! Thomas and I needed to unwind after such a busy day, so we went to the Glacier Hot Pools and relaxed for a few hours. The pools we outdoor, so it was a cold walk out to them, but it felt so good to sit in the 40° pools with the cool air. Just what we needed! We kept relaxing even after the hot pools, by making some popcorn and watching a movie in the van. Such a perfect day!

Goodnight!