Franz Joseph glacier

Our last stop in NZ was at the Franz Joseph glacier, or in Māori: Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere based on the story of a woman who loved mountain climbing and convinced her partner to climb with her but an avalanche killed him. The glacier represents preservation of her tears.

The glacier is 9 km long and 200 m deep - the 4th largest in New Zealand. It is famous because it is so accessible (low elevation) and is surrounded at its base by beautiful rainforest.

We learned about the glacier on a 3 hour nature hike - just the 4 of us and our guide, Jerome. From NZ, Jerome was a biologist who clearly loved the glacier and all things plants and nature. We’ve been curious about what it’s like to live in these small towns and give tour upon tour. Like most of our guides, Jerome was about to head out on a 6 month international trip for the NZ slow season. He told us of his apprehension about joining friends in Mexico and central/South America - why fly all that way when he lived in the most beautiful place on earth? However, he was eager to vist a glacier in Argentina, and he did sound ready to leave the tiny town of Franz Joseph for a bit, sharing that you have to be careful you don’t do “anything bad” because everyone will know about it.

The hike involved paved trails and a view overlooking the large riverbed leading up to the glacier. Jerome got out his thermoses at the overlook and admitted that his least favorite part of being a guide was the barista part - pouring hot chocolate and coffee to tourists overlooking the glacier. But his spirits picked up when he realized we were up for a little off trail adventure through the rainforest.

He became chatty as he took us off the main public trail, trekking through the river, teaching us where the clear blue rainwater mixes with the colder gray glacial water. Taking us further into the riverbed we saw no other people, as our waterproof boots went below the water surface and filled and sloshed with icy water. It was kind of awesome.

Jerome stopped along the way to point out the many many different types of fungi and plants. I never realized how amazing fungi is - including one that eats cicada larvae (rather than wood) and is currently being used in pills to treat cancer! As an aside, I watched a documentary Jerome recommended - Fantastic Fungi and I am now hooked. They help digest dead matter into living ecosystem - incredible. Jerome fed us edible berries and a special leaf that was used by the Māori as antiseptic - turning our tongues numb. He showed us the perfect reciprocity of the flowers pollinated by bees, the forest was a giant well orchestrated system, each piece relying on another.

Jerome shared the history of the glacier - even though it grows and shrinks in cycles, it has drastically shrunk over time, especially in the last 100 years because of climate warming. They expect it will be gone 50 years from now. When it is gone, the east side of the island will be without water for drinking and farming. They will likely have to build a tunnel to move water from the wet west side east. The rest of the island will have to figure out alternative power when they lose hydropower from the glacier.

In the afternoon, we were lucky to get to visit the glacier - via helicopter! A ride of a lifetime, we flew over the rainforest and up to the top of the glacier. I held my breath for the entire trip - partly in fear of the tiny vehicle bopping us through the clouds, but mostly I held my breath in awe of our view.

We had a short landing at the top, where we surreally looked at the pointed mountain tops of the Southern Alps. We could see the bright blue ice crevices with sharp peaks on every side. It was like another world.

Trae got a great video of the start of our return flight. I keep watching it in disbelief. What a magically beautiful, powerfully vulnerable place.

Across each experience, Trae and I keep saying we’re not sure we’ll have such a remarkable moment again in our lives. And then NZ proves us wrong.