On top of the fucking world
In the words of someone who means a lot to me…
“Just because we use fuck like a comma does not mean everyone else does”
But even she would let this one by I think.
It has now been a week and half since I what I am writing about happened and I can definitively say that its hand down the best day of my life so far. It was truly magical and something I will hold very dear for the rest of my time on planet earth. It moved me so much that I did in fact have tears in my eyes.
I was fortunate enough to be gifted a glacier helicopter tour and snow landing for my Christmas from Mum and Dad, I cannot put into words how thankful I am for them at the best of times but this meant the world and more.
The tour was from a tiny village called Franz Joseph which gets its name from same Austrian who discovered the glacier. It is the 3rd most visited attraction in New Zealand and let me tell you can tell… well when the helicopters run you can…
I was in Franz Jospeh for all of 2 nights with my flight planned for the middle day and the weather the evening of my arrival was abysmal, leaving me with a pit in my stomach. I already moved the flight forward by a couple of hours to try and get out. The next morning arrived and sure enough very low lying clouds enshrouded the valley and a delay was called on my flight, and then another and then, yep you guessed it, another… I was then asked if I would be available the next again day as the weather looked more promising earlier in the day, so I moved it to next, and last morning, with all my hopes pinned on the weather playing ball.
Well the weather did in fact play ball and I woke up to glorious blue skies and limited cloud cover. “Thunderbirds are go” was my first thought. After a very brief safety briefing we were ferried to the heliport where we met our pilot Poppy who was fantastic! We took off and she informed us we’d be starting with the Fox glacier and then fly across the Franz Jospeh, no Tasman on this flight.
Once we were above what cloud there was we were presented with the Southern Alps in all the resplendent glory. Mount Cook looked mega on the horizon and was a sight to see. But before you know it Fox glacier is coming up in front of you and is indescribable, mesmerisingly beautiful, like a pearl nestled in the Southern Alps. Before long your sweeping across the mountains towards and then over the Franz Jospeh glacier which was amazing to see as well *¹.
Then the cherry of the cake, we were taken to a patch of snow on a mountain I don’t know the name of and we came in to land. It was a gorgeous bowl shaped are which looked out towards Mount Cook and the southern alps around it. Let me tell you it is the most spectacular view I have ever, ever seen.
We then descended through a gorge before touching back down 35 minutes after taking off.
My smile was from ear to ear and I was beaming like a kid at Christmas. It was amazing and I’m still smiling about it now.
The rest of the day… was amazing too and you can read that in the last blog in the ‘Haast(a) La Vista’ section
*¹ Quick note at the end that Franz Jospeh is a glacier which, like most, is in retreat and you can definitely see this. It was stunning to see, but also tinged with a slight sadness for me that these magnificent marvels of nature may disappear completely some day.
Toddy
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