No Fixed Abode: Inland icebergs

Tue 29 Dec 2015 - Tasman Lake and Glacier

The first night in the campervan proved rather comfortable and Yvonne was able to bring Glenn a cup of tea in bed. After a leisurely breakfast listening to the neighbours depart we set off for the Mt Cook national park.

The drive along the shores of Lake Pukaki provided dramatic views of the broad glacier hewn valley bordered by steep mountains. At the road junction we turned for destination and travelled along the equally impressive Tasman valley.

On arrival at the busy car park we opened the doors of the van and had some lunch, the normally peaceful air shattered by the noise of the Dept of Conservation guys strimming the grass behind us. Refreshed and ready for action we set off to get a view of Tasman Lake, its icebergs and the glacier that provides them. During lunch a tour bus had disgorged an army of oriental tourists who we now met coming the other way. As usual every one was armed with a camera and taking pictures of everything, usually with one of them posing outrageously in front.

The track we had followed ended up at a jetty in a small bay where boat trips to the icebergs departed from but afforded no view of the glacier so we scrambled up the side to a small headland where we could see everything - just very far away. Never mind the next walk we planned to do took us along the shore to the glacier - so we thought.

The trail did follow the side of the valley but this glacier has had two trips down here in its recent (geologically speaking) past, the second of which did not extend to the valley side and left a huge (50-100m) ridge of lateral moraine (pile of rock and stones) behind which we were walking. Trapped in this pseudo valley we could see nothing, however, we walked on hoping it would eventually climb above it. After a mile or two climbing steadily upwards we met a couple of guys walking the other way and asked them how far it was until the lake could be seen. They told us the trail did not raise above the morraine wall until it was above the glacier and as that is covered in stones and rock the view was not particularly inspiring.

With that news we decided to try to scramble directly up the moraine wall to see what we could see from the top. By a stroke of pure good fortune we stumbled across an unsigned track that zig zagged across the loose surface until we crested the top and were presented with a spectacular view. Down below us, a long way down below us, was the matt, milky turquoise surface of the lake with dozens of icebergs of various sizes floating on its surface = some so big we had thought them islands from the far end. We sat and watched for a while until we noticed the tour boats coming our way and it was only when they pulled alongside some of the smaller icebergs we got a sense of how huge they were - very impressive.

All the while we had been sitting at the top of our precarious perch we could hear the glacier groaning and creaking and eventually we saw huge blocks of ice shear from the face and crash into the lake. How lucky were we?

Once back at the van we drove along the valley to a good viewpoint, opened the rear doors once again and had dinner admiring the scenery. We considered staying there for the night but after reading NZ has introduced $200 fines for ‘freedom camping’ in undesignated places we found another spot and watched, tea in hand, the setting sun casting its red glow on the distant mountain summits - marvellous.