Glaciers

This morning I hiked back up to Franz Josef Glacier with the DJI Inspire Drone and did three flights. I did a waterfall on the way in, a flight toward the Glacier face from the closest viewing point, and a flight up the glacial stream on my way out. I finally broke my NZ Waterfall jinx. Three times I’ve tried waterfalls here and failed due to conditions (too much mist, no GPS reception and freaky wind gusts). This time, I had no problems. Conditions were good and the only problem I had was a 10 minute delay waiting for tourists to finish taking their selfies. The viewing point for the Glacier is quite far from the actual ice. I had to fly out about 3/4 of a mile and up over 1000 ft and I still wasn’t as close as I wanted. But I was getting low radio and video signals so I didn’t want to go any further up the canyon.

From Franz Josef, I drove down to Fox Glacier. I ran into some bureaucratic red tape when I tried to take the drone up to the viewpoint there. Two workers said that I couldn’t fly there. There are no signs, and by their admission, no written rules saying you can’t, just a verbal prohibition. So I only got still photos there. Too bad, because you can get much closer to the ice at Fox Glacier and it would have been a better place to fly than Franz Josef, where I also probably was not supposed to fly. I even went back down to the park headquarters to argue my point, but while they said that I could get a permit to fly there, I would have to get the OK from several different agencies, yada, yada, yada. So you can fly there, but they are just going to make it such a bureaucratic pain in the ass that it’s not worth the bother. Up to this point, I thought the Kiwis were above this sort of BS.

My last stop of the day was Lake Matheson. I spent a couple hours there waiting for a tiny string of clouds to clear that were blocking Mt. Cook’s peak. The were the only clouds in the entire sky. I’m pretty sure the mountain was making them just to be contrary. I finally got a couple decent shots, but I may try it again in the early AM if the light looks good.


Another nice scene along the roadside between Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers.


Fox Glacier.


Fox Glacier closer.


The terminal ice at Fox Glacier.


At the trailhead to Lake Matheson.


Beautiful rainforest along the Lake Matheson trail.


I need my daily Fern Fix.


Another for my Fine Folio of Fern Photos (nice alliteration, huh?)


Some ducks loitering on a submerged log in Lake Matheson.


I finally got the Peaks peeking out.


More Southern Alps.


This must be New Zealand.