welcome Auckland aboard the gthreand traverse

N E W Z E A L A N D

Wellington

FRANZ JOSEF Queenstown

Reservations and Enquiries: Lake Tekapo and Glentanner : 0800 806 880 Franz Josef : 0800 723 274 Welcome Aboard Email : [email protected] Website : www.airsafaris.co.nz

Air Safaris and Services (NZ) Ltd, Franz Josef Of ce Lake Tekapo • Glentanner • Franz Josef PO Box 71, Lake Tekapo, P.O. Box 42, Franz Josef, New Zealand Phone: +64 3 680 6880 Phone: +64 3 7520 716 ON BOARD FLIGHT GUIDE Fax: +64 3 680 6740 Fax: +64 3 7520 701 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 by Mt MalteBrunat10,400’ (3,170m). valleys, the Tasman are separated Glaciers by andMurchison theMalteBrunrange, dominated 16 kilometres long, isNew Zealand’s theMurchison secondlongest glacier. Flowing inparallel The Murchison Glacier lakes thathave broken offtheglaciers, melting, tofeed theGodleyRiver. frozen overthewintermonths. during Insummeryoucanoccasionally seeicebergs you willseetheisolatedClassenandGodley Glaciers’. At theirbases’ are thelarge terminallakes - As weentertheMtCookNationalPark, locatedattheheadwatersofmighty GodleyRiver, The GodleyGlaciers Chamois, animalsinthisarea including many sporting Himalayan Tahr andRedDeer. onthe sheep stations. autumnmusters for accommodationandshelterduring There are also typical ofthegeologically young Southern Alps. Musterers’ huts, seeninthevalleysbelow, are used metres). Flankingtheeasternedge oftheGodleyRiver, thisrange shows clearly active erosion - istheSibaldmountainrangeOn ourright withMtSibaldthedominantpeakat9,200’ (2,800 Mt SibaldandtheRange station canbeisolatedfor daysatatime. 4WD trackaccessfording theMacaulayRiver; there are nobridges, ishighthe sowhentheriver sheepstationsLilybank,high country famous game andrecreation asasafari area. Lookoutfor its Passing theMacauleyRiverwe Station Lilybank well protected from predators. Stilt(inMaori:Black ‘Kaki’), oneoftheworld’s rarest birds, nestandfeed withinthechannels, across, -thefamous SouthIsland channels andcriss-crossedwithriver ‘braided’ system. river outby theglacier,Carved formed Lake which Tekapo, theshinglevalley The GodleyRiver winter snows. by shepherds for andtheirdogs thewintermonthsprotected tothelower from country thedeep environments.in harsh They graze summerandare mustered highonthemountainsduring onfoot approximately sheep, 10,000Merino abreed famous for itssuper- sheepstationsare 50,000acres (20,000 hectares) insize.Both thesehighcountry farm They each Godley Peaks andGlenmore Stations as trout andsalmon thesummer monthsLakeDuring Tekapo aswell ispopularfor waterskiingandotherwatersports Lake Tekapo isthe it’s uniqueturquoise-blue colour. 120metres deepandwithanaverage temperature of7°C, againstrock, grinding Glaciers produce a Lake Tekapo onthelaketransport assailandmotorboatsare prohibited. over 40speciesofbirds withinit’s catchment. biologically rich Rowing boatsare theonlymodeof turquoise-blue glacialwater ofLake Tekapo. The lake isoneofNew Zealand’s with ScenicReserves Famous for Rainbow andBrown trout Lake Alexandrina International DarkSky Reserve. was asthe declared In 2012anarea of1,700sqmilesaround theobservatory Aoraki Mackenzie isnowUniversity.1960’s mainlyusedfor purposesby research Canterbury theobservatory housingthebiggest telescope(1.8metre MOA) inthecountry.Mt JohnObservatory Builtinthe Lake Tekapo anddarkest hassomeoftheclearest nightsky intheworldandishometo Mt John Observatory from theair. on oldglacialterminalmoraine andissurrounded by uniqueglacialfeatures becomeobvious which Moutonnée(harderof aRoche bed-rocksculptured by advancingglacialice). The village itselfisbuilt 350 permanentresidents. Dominatingtheskylineexample tothewestisMtJohn-aclassic Nestled around thesouthernshoreline ofLake Tekapo, thevillage ishometoapproximately Lake Tekapo Village fi rst in a chain of7lakes inachain rst providing hydroelectric power toallofNew Zealand. fi shing. fl y over theGodley Valley andoneofNew Zealand’s mostisolated fi shing, lake thisspringfed provides contrast astriking tothe fi ne ‘rock fl our’ thatwhenwashed intothelake, creates fi ne woolandabilitytosurvive fl oor isover twokilometres fl oating inthe

the grand traverse of Aoraki Mount Cook and the glaciers 13 Glentanner Park Pukaki Airport FRANZ JOSEF AIR SAFARIS AIRPORT 17 14 16 15 Mount CookAirport Pukaki 19 Lake 12 18 20 11 LAKE TEKAPO AIR SAFARIS AIRPORT 10 9 3 1 2 5 Tekapo Lake 4 8 6 7 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 purity -justsome ofwhat makepurity theMackenzie sospecial. from theair. landscape, Dramatic ice-carved hues, subtleever-changing andairofexceptional retreat and grasslands -todaygolden tussock cover visible theglacialdepositsthat remain clearly Approximately 14,000 yearsago theicethatcovered thisarea from thelastIce Age beganits to where theyappeartoday. Underneaththislake theiceisstillover 200metres thick. from theair, havetaken about500yearstotravel from theneve at thetopof Tasman Glacier This lake formed in1991and hasbeengrowing ever since. The icebergs, visible are clearly which Tasman GlacierLake braided Tasman RiverandthenintoLake Pukaki. of itslength.At it’s terminusisaglaciallake 150mdeepandlinedwithice, feeding intothehuge glacier. Moraine (rockandgravel scraped orfallen from thevalleywalls) coverstheicefor much 29 kilometres longwithiceupto2,600’ /800mdeep, the Tasman iseasilyNew Zealand’s longest Tasman Glacier overfrom 6days! nearthesummitinanepiceffort the lastbigground rescues successfullyrescued (before -aninjured climber theuseofhelicopters) A beautifulpeakdominatedby itshuge southernrockface. In1948LaPerouse featured inoneof Mt LaPerouse (10,100ft/3,078m) and debris, travelled 7.3kmfrom itssource atanapproximate speedof400-600km/hr. on MtCookloweringthehighestpeakby 20m. An estimated 14millioncubicmetres ofrock Tom Fyfe, George Graham and19yrold, Clarke. Jack occurred In1991agiantrockavalanche ice ‘Aoraki’- theCloud-Piercer!New Zealand’s highestmountainstandssupreme withitssnow and Aoraki/Mt Cook(12,316ft/3,754m) descends offitswestern It was Known ice-climb, asaclassic Mt Tasman isNew Zealand’s secondhighestmountain. Mt Tasman (11,475ft/3,497m) Hukatere wept, thebedofFox andFranz glaciers the area.The bedoftheglacierwas his “Te Moekao Tuawe” wasfrom derived anancestor Tu Awe whofell tohisdeathwhileexploring theuniquelandforms ofthearea.commit tomemory namefor FoxThe Maori Glacier, ofthealpineworldwas understanding basedongreat mythsMaori toenablegenerations to Fox Glacier that penetrate thelower forest zones. thatmakeglaciers upthe Westland NationalPark, Franz JosefandFox Glaciers’ are theonlytwo Westlandtemperate rainforest sustainedby upto5metres ofrainfall of annually. Ofthe 140 fl The Southern Alps standslike wall afortress inthepathofmoisture-laden westerlyair West CoastRainforest 4 metres perday. this magni Geike snow At theheadofglacierisbeautiful out belowday300kmofcoastline. andonaclear After crossing theSouthern Alps (MainDivide)youwillseethe Westland NationalPark spread Glacier Franz Josef glacier remain popularfor skiingandclimbing. of iceupto800metres deep, mountainhutsandvastsnow 29km down the Tasman Valley pastMtCook. With 50metres ofannualsnow fall coveringabase The mighty Tasman isthelongest glacierinNew Zealand, Domeand atHochstetter starting theTasmanHead of Glacier ow rolling inoffthe Tasman Sea. Within afew isthe kilometres ofthe ice-world oftheglaciers fi below.elds spillingintotheglaciers Itwas fi rst climbed in January 1895by MathiasZurbriggen. inJanuary climbed The Balfour icefallrst andglacier fi cent ofice’‘river descendsalmosttothe Tasman Seaatarecorded rate ofupto fi eld, famous skiing. for highaltitudecross country Plummetingsteeplywestward, fl anks. fi nal resting placeanditissaidthatwhenhislover Hine fi rst climbed on Christmas Day1894 by locals onChristmas climbed rst fi ofice. lled withhereverlasting tears fi ofthe elds ensure theupperreaches fl owing