Fox Glacier

We emerged from Mount Aspiring National Park onto the west coast of the South Island, where we worked our way northward toward the glacier region -- Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers.  We decided to stop for the night in Fox Glacier.  We found a small campground in town with a nice kitchen and great showers!  When we arrived, there were hardly any guests, but by the evening it was packed.  We were the only ones in tents, and felt a little exposed, but it was still a nice place to land.   Ray took a photo of our spot with his tent (ours is just out of sight to the right):

See that sweet orange bus?  Steve was jealous.  That section across the street was interesting, with all the sites organized into a tight circle.  Yeah, not a lot of privacy here, but if you are camping "contained" (in a camper or van) it's not as big of a deal, I guess.

The drive to the base of Fox Glacier was only 5 minutes away from camp.  The thing we found most fascinating was, as you are progressing toward the parking lot, there are signs along the road that say, "In 1947 (or around then) the glacier stopped here" and then further up the road "In 1972 the glacier stopped here" etc.  We were stunned at how much the glacier had receded or melted in not many years.  It actually made us kind of sad for that little town, with cute shops and hotels...since it's quite remote, we're not sure how many visitors will come once the glacier is gone.

With the gray clouds, gray rocks, and a mist in the air, it almost seemed like we had traveled to the moon or something!  It was really beautiful in a different way than the other scenic places we had visited.  We started out the hike to the glacier all together, but before long, Landon and Emily started complaining (it had been another l-o-n-g day in the car, so I don't blame them -- you can see Emily's sheer excitement about the hike demonstrated in the next photo).  So, Danita and I turned around and waited for the others in the van.  Steve was proud of Luke for hiking the entire way without being carried at all!

I handed the camera to Rachel on the trail when I needed to turn back and said, "Get some good pictures!"  I think she did.

That evening at camp, poor Luke and Landon sort of melted down, screaming and throwing little pebbles in defiance.  As stated earlier, we had zero privacy, and there was an older couple (non-English speakers so probably European) sitting at their table, eating their fancy dinner and drinking their wine, just staring at our kids with a mixture of fascination and contempt.  I mean, just STARING.  Lucky them...dinner AND a show.  It was irritating to the point of being funny.

They must have pulled out of there at the crack of dawn, because they were nowhere to be seen when we were taking down our camp.  Here's a cute pic of Grandpa and the twins in the kitchen having breakfast.  Thank goodness for new days, when yesterday's tantrums are forgotten and you fall in love with your cute kids all over again. :)

Ray and Danita had discovered a serene little path close to camp, which we explored for a few moments before heading out of town.

Nine nights down...only three to go, but still many more things to see and do.