My favorite Glacier Track in New Zealand

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New Zealand is known all over the world as a top backpacking destination for its wonderful hiking trails along the country. I have to honestly say that I'm not a good hiker and definitely that's a big challenge for me if someone asks me to complete an intensive trail. But during my time in New Zealand, hiking with my friends is something I really enjoyed. There are a number of tracks in New Zealand rated easy or moderate suitable for everyone, and Rob Roy Glacier Track is one of them.
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A Glacier Track is best done during the beginning of spring, when the weather hasn't gotten too cold, and the ice still hasn't melted on top of the mountains. After carefully checking the weather forecast and the map, our group of four, including me, @trangbaby and another two friends, decided to take one day off from work to do this track on a day in Oct 2018. We left Queenstown at 8am in the morning in my friend's small car and it took us nearly four hours to get to the entrance. That was unexpected since the Google Map said it may take us only 2,5 hours to get there by car so we didn't depart earlier and took time to have breakfast. The last 30km are unsealed with nearly 10 fords to cross. Everyone recommended 4WD. My friend's car was a bit old and small which made us a bit worried at the beginning. If it started raining we might get swept away but luckily that was a sunny and warm day so we finally made it to the Raspberry Creek Car Park. It was about 15 minutes walk from the car park through the paddocks before we officially got to the starting point of the trail. Once we got to see a cool swing bridge over the Matukitiki River with a good view to take photos, we were really excited.
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The first couple of miles were straight up the mountain via steep switchbacks. It was moderated but still left me exhausted, but as long as we climbed higher the view got better and better so it was paid-off. Climbing up through beech forest and alpine meadows with a view of the Rob Roy Glacier getting more impressive. We stopped to have some snacks where a stream rolled down the mountain which was supposed to be the ice from the top started to melt when the weather got warmer. That was a phenomenal view and we took turns to take photos there. Well, I have to say that the track is supposed to be 3 hours to return but it took us nearly 5 hours because we spent a lot of time stopping to enjoy those breathtaking views and taking photos. The reward comes at the top which is the most spectacular view of the Rob Roy Glacier. We keep climbing up until we reach the glacier that we could almost reach out and touch. There were many rocks to sit on and marvel at the glacier as well as enjoying a picnic lunch but we couldn't spend much time to stay there because we were rush to be back. The way back was a lot easier with the downhills and we didn't take much time to return.
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This is the track that I highly recommend that you shouldn't miss if you are in Wanaka. I had a great time hanging out with my friends during that unforgettable experience. My mind always yearns to go back there whenever I look at the photos. Nearly 1.5 years spent in New Zealand were one of my best memories that I will never forget.
Writing a blog is never an easy task for me. I still feel very hard to express my feelings or my personal opinions in words, but thanks to Hive, I have learnt a lot from people around here. I haven't posted anything for 9 days because I feel like my contents are not really interesting and I have been struggling to find a good topic to share, but seeing my friends have been very active everyday makes me feel disappointed with myself and gives me more motivation to not give up and continue my journey with Hive. I know I need to improve myself and this community helps me out a lot. This is just something I write down to remind myself about being more productive. Again, I'd like to express my gratitude to the amazing people around here who I have or have not met in person.

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