From: "Philip Merryman" <phil_merryman@hotmail.com>

Date: Sun Apr 07, 2002 05:01:17 AM Etc/GMT

Subject: Getting high on the white powder

Hi again!

This weeks major event was the trip to Mount Cook. I had diverted from the main Magic Bus route to take this in. Magic do include it as an option in their timetable, but it is operated by an individual.

So, having seen the Penguins at Oamaru, both the Yellow-Eyed (the rarest) and the Blue (the smallest), the next day I set off on a tiny minibus of about 6 people to Mt. Cook village, which is just down the valley from the mountain: the highest in NZ. It takes about 3 to 4 hours to get there from the East coast as it is only just over the mountains from Franz joseph where I had been earlier in my travels. It was a bit grey and damp so as we entered the mountains you could not see the tops of most of them. So not overly promising. Arriving at he village in the afternoon it had improved a bit, but you cannot see the mountain itself from the YHA, you have to go further up the village to where the posh hotel is to get a view of it (why am I not surprised?!). As the driver gave us a quick tour of the village before dropping us off, we could see where the mounbtain should be before arriving at the hostel.

There were two main events I wanted to try and do at Mt. Cook. One was a boat trip on the lake at the foot of the Tasman Glacier, which takes you right up the the glacier itself, and the other was to again try and get a ski-plane up onto the glacier at the top! I had rung the ski planes on the evening I arrived and they weren't flying and were not sure about the next day. However I tentatively made a booking for about 10:30. But I also booked a trip on the lake for the morning too as I did not want to hang around all day for one and then miss out on the other.

In the morning I rang the ski planes, they were not yet flying, so I put off my reservation to the following day and went for the boat. There was still clouds about over the mountains, but it did seem to be clearing. I had a couple of hours before the boat trip so I went for a wander around the village and a look in the visitor info centre. While there I overheard the lady in the info centre say to another tourist that the planes were not flying. After coming out of there the mountain was totally clear!! It must have happened very quickly!

So off I went for the boat trip. This takes about 2 or more hours on the water and they take you right up to the leading edge of the glacier. In fact only the day before a huge block, many thousands of tons, had broke off to form an iceberg in the lake! All the time there were little rumblings and splashes as small stones and ice fell from the glacier in the sunlight. The biggest block we saw fall off was about the size of a suitcase. In fact getting right up to it was a bit unnerving at times with the thought that a piece of any size could fall at any time. However the guys running the boats (small rigid boats with an outboard motor) knew what to look for in the event that another massive piece may drop like the day before. We even managed to get off the boat and onto the iceberg!! The glacier itself is covered in loose rock from the mountains and so is very dirty, so much of the face of it was black or grey and it also had layered white and grey through the ice. However inside the ice itself is clear, and we picked up some bits which were like glass blocks! In fact the lake runs up the side of the glacier as well as its leading edge, so we also explored up there, some of it quite narrow, and even got off onto the side of the lake. However this was still mostly glacier as there was melting ice beneath the rocks creating a small stream.

By now the sky was clear and blue everywhere! And you hear the planes flying overhead!From the boats you also got a good view of Mount Cook and its neighbouring mountains, including Mount Tasman, the second highest pointg in NZ. The rain of the prvious two days had fallen as snow on the Mountains, bringing the snow line down significantly. With the totally clears skies and the fresh snow anyone up in those planes must have had a truly spectacular view! So no ssooner had I retgurned to the YHA, in fact the very first thing I did on walking in the door was to ring the Ski Planes again. I wanted to do their most expensive and longest trip which included crossing over the mountain range to the other side to look down on the Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers of the West side. I asked if there was any chance of getting a flight this afternoon (it was now about 3.45pm) even though I had originally put it off to the next day. With conditions this perfect I felt there would nver be a better chance. They said that no-one else wanted to do that trip today!!! Just like the Milford Sound helicopter. So without a nanosecond's hesitation I asked them how many they needed to fly. Answer: two. Again with zero hesitation I asked: If I pay for two will that do. Answer: Yes!! So I chartered the whole plane!!! However with only about 45 mins notice I was noy going to find anyone else in te Hostel to share the cost: they were still all out or, liker most backpackers, spending as little as possible and the cost of this flight would normally last them weeks! I did try a couple by the cost put the off.

So I went up on my own!!!!! (plus pilot!!) And it was beyond description. I do not have enough command of the English language to describe it, even if there were sufficient superlatives! The whole flight lasted over an hour and went up the valley with the Tasman glacier, then around the peak of Mt. Cook, passing by quite close. As we crossed over "the divide" to the other side of the range it was a bit bumpy but then settled again. I could look down on the Fox glacier, then the Franz Joseph. You could see the towering pinnacles that I has seen from on the glacier itself and also the point where we had reached. The glacier was amazing as it was steep one and so completely fractured at the top as it falls off the mountain. The ice field over the tops of the range were huge and pure white with all the fresh snow, truly amazing. The plane then crossed back over to the other side and circled the top of the Tasman glacier before making the approach to land. Two other planes were already there. We put down on the snow and the pilot turned the plane to face down the glacier for take off. He cut the engine and we got out. As I stepped off the plane my feet sunk into the snow almost up to my knees!! The plane had only made tracks a few inches deep, so I tried to walk there if possible, but most of the time it was knee deep! With no engines it was totally quiet. It was was an eerie feeling. Aftr 10 mins or so the other two planes took off we followed. Just a straightforward trip back to the airport, right over the lake I had been on two hours before! So in the space of a couple of hours I had been to both ends of NZ's longest glacier! As we got out of the plane I said the pilot: "That is the best 200 quid I have spent!" and it was worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY!!!

During the flight I had got through an entire roll (36) of film and 15 mins of video. That's a photo every two minutes on average, and one quarter of the flight on tape. However most of the time I was jmust transfixed looking out of the window!!! I'' let you work out how much per photo or minute of tape it cost! :-) Whats more I would do it again!

Anyway, got to dash as they are about to close the cafe, and I have a mountain of washing to do!! I'll tell you what I got up to this morning later!!

Cheers

Phil