Someone somewhere had told us the best way to view the glacier was to get up close and personal on a heli-hiking trip. The weather had been pretty poor in Fox Glacier so we had rung ahead to make sure we got a seat on the first trip. We took a short walk away from the village to get our first real glimse of the glacier from a nearby view point and we were so impressed we decided to take a closer look and walked close up to the terminal face. That night we prayed for clear weather in the morning, we were awoke by the sounds of helicopters taking off for the early scenic flights - our hopes were high. When we arrived at the office they were still unsure of the trip going ahead and we had 15mins of a nervous wait. Luckily everything was ok and we were given the go ahead to take the trip. There were 6 of us in our helicopter and Jo got the front seat next to the pilot. The views were magnificent as we soared over the glacier and waterfalls before landing on the ice about half way up the glacier. Next we doned our crampons and grabed a walking stick and headed off for our 2 1/2 hour trek up the glacier. It is a lot more dangerous than you think with giant cravasses around every corner - you don't want to fall in !!! It was quite hard work so we didn't have time to get cold and the 4 layers of clothing helped. We headed up the glacier as far as we could go then back to the landing pad in the alotted time and the had the reverse helicopter flight home. It is the best way to see it.

The next day we thought we would have a lok at Fox Glaciers rival in the next village so we headed for Franz Joseph and a view there. It looked very similar if not slightly steeper but the weather had taken a turn for the worse so no trips to the top.