As Julia pointed out later in the day I seem to be getting all the fun days to report about. This is purely luck of the draw - I am sure she will get ample opportunity soon. We had had another coldish night in the camper last night, this didn't stop us getting a good nights sleep though. Perhaps we were tired as we had spent most of the previous evening booking two campers for our legs between Melbourne to Adelaide and Brisbane to Sydney in Australia - now we can rest assured our next stage is sorted.

This morning we set off for our half day walk on Fox Glacier. I had wondered whether this was where Foxes Glacier Mints got there name from? I haven't had a chance to google it yet, but it gave me something to think about all day. We picked up our cramp-ons from the tour centre and boarded the bus where our guide debriefed us on what to do and expect on the glacier. This is going to be an easy three hours in comparison to the treks and volcano climbs we've been on of late. Despite the ease of the walk we still packed thermals, hats and gloves just in case it turned cold. The wet weather had luckily lifted and we enjoyed clear views all morning.

Our tour started at the base of the glacier at the terminal face. This may sound like an obvious place to start but there was the option to do a heli-hiking experience which was outside of our budget. Our guide explained in detail about the glacier pointing out points of interest. The first area we walked through was a no stopping zone due to heavy rock fall. The glacier has receded slowly over thousands of years - this fact was indicated more recently by markers established when tours first started in 1928. Fox Glacier is 13km long and is the longest in New Zealand. Our introduction tour was to take us up over the terminal face and onto the glacier. Before we could do this we had to put on our cramp-ons and navigate to the edge of the glacier. I had visited a glacier in Norway many years ago but I never got up close and personal. My first impression was how massive this thing was. Our guides had carved out a crevace the day before which took them twelve hours using picks and chainsaws. As we weaved through the first crevace we touched the cold ice.....to think some of this compacted snow was 1000's of years old. The end section of the glacier was thin in comparison to the neve which was 30km square. All that weight means the glacier moves 10 times the speed of other valley glaciers around the world.

Glaciers are held in a delicate balance by the accumulation of snow gained in the upper glacier and snow melting in the lower part. An increase of snow in the neve will result in the glacier advancing. Correspondingly, a faster melt will result in the glacier retreating. Overall Fox glacier has been advancing since 1985. Our guide took us to wells which sit on top of the glacier. These wells can reach down 100's of metres. It came as no surprise tourists were kept from the more dangerous examples. However we were shown some fine examples with melt water running down into them. As we peered over the edge to look at the icy blue depths it was left to our imagination what would happen if one was to accidentally fall inside - "Ju, please be careful"!

For me the remains of huge boulders and rock strewn everywhere once again showed us nature's power and left you thinking how small and vulnerable the human race is. Along the route back from the glacier we observed and heard rocks falling from the edges of the cliffs as the ice melted in the midday sun. It's not until you get up close and personal with some of the features on a glacier that you then start to appreciate it's awesome power. We took time out to take some wacky snaps before returning to the bus. I was glad to have had the opportunity to do this as I am sure in 20 years time I will either be too old or the Worlds glaciers will be a rarity and harder to get to.

We joined the caravan armada migrating in various direction to their next respective touristy destinations. Our afternoon drive was much like before - stopping occasionally for the odd picture break. We made good time to Lake Hawea just in time to enjoy a bit of evening sun. I spent a few hours uploading the photographs and sorting the blog whilst Ju cooked a yummy tea - bless her, she is a real Susie home-maker at heart!