Franz Josef Glacier — Lisa's (& Steve's) Travels

That’s actually the name of the town and not just the glacier itself.

As we left Wanaka, we passed by gorgeous Lake Wanaka for the last time…

…headed into even higher mountains…

… and along gloriously clear streams -

On our way we had stopped to take pictures of a waterfall (actually not that great), and luckily chatted with a bicyclist who said the road ahead was going to close at 1 pm (it was then 12:50) and not reopen until 5 pm! We literally ran back to our car, as Steve was quickly putting the tripod back together, and we drove off down the road. We got to the closure point at 12:55, and the road crew man said he’d be right back to lead us through, after he put up the “road closed” sign just behind us! Whew!

We were then able to take our time at Thunder Creek Falls, but because it was so tall (92 feet) and slender, it’s a bit underwhelming in pictures.

I liked this view of the base, with the pretty blue creek passing in front -

As we continued on toward the West Coast, we passed by this valley (but I don’t know the name of the mountain there) -

We also kept crossing wide alluvial river beds where there was a lot of braiding going on -

The west coast of the South Island is commonly referred to as the “wild west coast”, and it’s sparsely populated. Once we reached the coast and were driving north, we’d pass some beautiful photo ops…

… as well as a number of massive empty beaches -

We reached our accommodation in Franz Josef and settled in to get lost…

… in the variety of reflections in the pond just outside our door -

Once we had decided to stay here on the West Coast, I did further research on an activity that I definitely wanted to do in New Zealand. No, not bungee jumping…

Sky Diving!

I paid for a separate photographer to jump with us, so I could see what I missed while I was living it. It was very odd (and only slightly scary) to “jump out of a perfectly good airplane” as my Air Force father used to say. It didn’t feel like falling, but there was a lot of pressure against my face and body, and all the scenery just seemed to be getting closer, but again, not scarily so. I was afraid the jerk when the parachute opened would hurt my back, but it wasn’t that noticeable, except later on the ground, my back was a little tender. My jump-buddy said that they normally do 5 jumps a day, but when it’s really busy, they’ll jump 10 times in one day! He said his back definitely tells him about it then.

That was the view through the open bay door, as I sat on the edge just before we let go.

I think this was my favorite still, showing the view from the ocean to the mountains and glacier -

Ok, so here’s the usual instruction to be sure and open this post in your browser by clicking the link at the end of the post so you can enjoy the video I inserted above. {I didn’t want to throw that in before the video, and ruin the narrative. ;) } For those who are interested, I have the 5 minute video that the photographer put together, including take-off and landing. Just send me a note by replying to this email.

Steve opted not to jump, because he said it was too expensive and he just wasn’t that interested.

I probably won’t take this up as a new hobby, but I would definitely paraglide again (like I did in Columbia) as I love the feeling of flying. My favorite part of the whole jump was when he tucked us into a tight spiral as we came in for a landing - WHEE!

Now for some more sedate activities. The next day we took some short hikes around town…