Nursing our blisters, we hobbled onto the Intercity bus in Nelson for the 11 hour ride to Fox Glacier. The scenery was (again!) beautiful, but unfortunately we were unable to enjoy it fully as both Beckie and Lucas quickly succumbed to motion sickness and spent most of the trip with their heads in bags. For future reference, Costco trail mix bags (good quality, watertight, resealable, easy to hold, and have a base so they stand up) are the weapon of choice in this situation. 
For the first half of the journey, the landscape was similar to what we had seen on the ride into Nelson: steep forested hills and mountains rising out of flat farmland in the valleys. And once again we saw extensive tree cutting and replanting. Since arriving in the area, we have learned (from our kayak guide Calum, and the bus driver) that timber is one of New Zealand's primary exports, and that these huge tree farms are a mainstay of the economy in this region. An hour or so out of Nelson, the road wound through one of the largest of these tree farms, and we could see huge swaths of hillside in various stages of growth. Apparently the trees are allowed to mature for about 25 years before being harvested and replanted.
During the latter part of the day we weaved through coastal towns along the west side of the South Island. There were some beautiful views of the coastline, and a dramatic change in the vegetation to lush sub-tropical plants similar to those we saw at Abel Tasman.
In spite of the kids' stomach problems, we were all able to enjoy a stop at the Pancake Rocks in the town of Punakaiki. Through a process of weathering, the limestone has formed into what looks like huge stacks of pancakes. They are quite bizarre and the sea pounding through them is an awe-inspiring sight.
One striking fact that was very apparent on this journey was how sparsely populated New Zealand is. Although we were following one of the country's major highways, it was just a twisty narrow country road with very rare intersections, and hardly another vehicle in sight. For hours we'd see nothing but empty road ahead and dense trees and mountains on either side. And virtually all of the dozens of bridges were a single lane wide, most of them dating back 70 or 80 years. Two of the bridges even shared the single lane with the railway: the bus driver checked no trains were coming, then drove right along the tracks!
At Fox Glacier, the bus dropped us right at our holiday park. New Zealand holiday parks generally have tent sites as well as dorms and rooms you can rent like a hotel. They also have communal cooking facilities and bathrooms like hostels, but generally cater to New Zealand families on holiday rather than backpackers. (Some of the holiday parks we will be camping at later also have pools and game rooms.) Beckie and Lucas found this holiday park very much to their liking. There was an interesting playground, and a trampoline, which they spent hours on, playing with loads of other kids and perfecting their front flips.
Bright and early the following morning, we set out on our glacier tour. Rachael had told the kids they would have to write a report on glaciers when they returned to the holiday park so they paid close attention! We learned from our guide that a glacier is a moving river of ice, formed when a mountain has a large basin (known as the névé) near the top that collects a lot of snowfall. The snow compresses into ice, then starts moving down a valley. The two main glaciers here, Fox and Franz Josef, are very impressive. Fox is over 6 ½ miles long from its névé to its terminal face. It ends about 750 feet above sea level, which results in a striking contrast between the ice of the glacier and the surrounding rain forest. This unusual environment, which is virtually unique to New Zealand, is caused by dry winds from Australia blowing across the Tasman Sea, picking up moisture as they go. They then slam into the Southern Alps which rise up almost immediately from the sea on the west coast. The clouds drop rain on the lower reaches (hence the rain forest) and snow as soon as they reach the mountain tops. The volume of precipitation is impressive, usually 5 to 10 meters per year.
Anyway, after a short bus ride, our guide led us on foot up the valley towards the huge wall of ice ahead of us. The valley floor was gravel, rocks and boulders, with a river of melted water and ice and a few smaller streams running through it, and on either side almost vertical cliffs rising hundreds of feet above us. The water in the river was cloudy because of the rock dust (or “rock flour”) ground up by the movement of the glacier. But there were also “kettle” pools of perfectly clear water, resulting from the melting of huge pieces of buried ice left behind by the retreating glacier face.
Turns out walking up a glacier valley is far more hazardous than you would think. Thousands of years ago, the ice carved out the valley, and completely filled it to the top of the cliffs. But now that the ice has retreated, these cliffs are no longer supported, and frequently crumble, sending enormous boulders tumbling to the bottom. Another danger is melting ice chunks hidden under the rock, which can subside, causing huge craters and crevices to suddenly appear. And the terminal face is particularly dangerous, because the friction of the glacier against the underlying rock causes it to move in a rolling motion, which frequently results in huge chunks of ice falling from the top. There was plenty of evidence of recent landslides, including one that had required the road and parking lot to be relocated, and another just a few months ago that had required a completely new set of hundreds of steps to be rebuilt, and we heard that two people had been killed last week by falling ice, after getting too close to the terminal face. Needless to say, we followed our guide's instructions very closely, especially when he told us we were in a high risk area and should walk quickly without stopping while he checked for falling boulders!
As we got closer to the ice face, the path led into rain forest vegetation at the side of the valley. It suddenly felt very hot and humid, and we all stripped down to t-shirts as we worked our way up almost 500 wooden steps and along several narrow winding cliff ledges to finally bring us to the level of the glacier where we could walk out onto the ice. At this point we stopped to strap on crampons and grab alpenstocks – and to put back on all the clothes we took off earlier, as we could now feel the freezing air blowing off the glacier.
Guides went ahead of us with pickaxes to test the ice, and cut steps through the steep parts, then we followed right out into the middle of the glacier, careful to stay in single file behind our guide, as there were huge deep cracks and holes on either side that were clearly big enough to swallow us up, and no way to know whether the untested ice was hiding more holes under the surface. After enjoying spectacular views up and down the valley, we eventually turned around and retraced our steps back to the bus.
It is hard to grasp the sheer hugeness of the ice flow. Fox Glacier is actually advancing – one of only 3% in the world that are – and it flows between 3 and 15 feet per day so it is one of the fastest moving as well. The whole experience was great fun and, like so many other things in New Zealand, really shows off the power of mother nature.
In the afternoon, we went on a short rain forest walk, then clouds closed in and it started to rain, so we spent the afternoon doing school work back at the holiday park. At dusk, we returned to the rain forest in search of glow worms, which hang out in moist forests and caves. It took us a while to spot them, but once it really got dark, they started to appear everywhere, glowing in the trees like hundreds of pairs of green eyes.
