The day dawned on what should have been our journey day to Hokitika but as we couldn’t take our helicopter flight yesterday we were hoping today would be the day ! After a quick visit to the flight office we were told the weather was still not great so to come back in a couple of hours, we gave them our mobile numbers and told them to call if we were on.
Not to waste a couple of hours we headed off up to the foot on of the glacier, if we couldn’t fly over it at least we could see it from the ground. The viewing area is a large natural park with well laid out paths so we headed off to the viewing point at the glacial moraine base, and it was well worth the trip with stunning views of the glacier and its river bed.
The sun by this point was shining and so if the clouds cleared we were hopeful for our helicopter ride, we risked a detour on the walk back to a place called Peters pond, another spot where you can view the mountains perfectly reflected in the still waters of the small lake. We took a few photos before running back to the car and driving into town with our fingers crossed.
We arrived to be told they had just sent a chopper up and he had reported the clouds were lifting and he was on his way to pick us up, so we had a quick safety briefing, and went to wait. It’s no exaggeration to say the flight was well worth the wait ! we took off from town and headed off over the viewing area and park we had just been to, and past the bridge we had stood on yesterday, and then we started making our way up the lacier itself in glorious blue sky.
As we flew up the glacier the clouds were breaking up and we flew through them and out the other side with clear views for miles, the other 6 glaciers were pointed out along with the names of the highest peaks. There were six of us in the chopper, Tracey and I in the back along with our two friends , and another couple in the from seats with the pilot.
We made our way to the top of the glacier where the helicopter landed and we were allowed to get out and spend 15 standing on top of the glacier in full sun and blue sky. This was a truly magical experience that I will never forget, the smiles on all our faces in the photos will tell you just how magical this experience was. All too quickly we were getting back into the chopper , clutching a photo our pilot had taken and printed while we were out on the ice. The pilot took and sold these to help top up his wages, and it was well worth the 20 dollars ( £10 pounds).
The trip back took about 20 minutes as we flew from the Franz Joseph Glacier and out of the other glaciers, flying low to see the ice and high to get the panorama before we returned to the Joseph glacier and flew down its length following the river it thaws into before landing again in the middle of town.
I hope the photos do the trip justice, it was magical and something none of us will ever forget. After landing there was time for a coffee and a spot of shopping before heading back to the car and off to Hokitika for a one night stop that would hopefully let us see the famous glow worms and the drift wood beach
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