Morning soon broke and we were up with the larks (or Keas in our case!), showered and dressed and down at the guide place by 8:30am!

Once there we were kitted out with woollen socks and leather boots (sexy!) and a pair of crampons each we boarded the bus to take us as close to the terminal face of the glacier as possible. Normally the public can walk up to the terminal face, much like at Franz Josef, but due to flood damaged and rock slides the access road was closed other than to take a quick picture at a open view point so unless you were doing a guided walk you could only take a quick picture of the glacier.

We proudly marched passed a group of Chinese/Japanese tourist who were hanging around taking pictures and felt smug that we would be venturing closer and taking better pictures than them of the glacier!! Haaahaaa!

Passed the 'Danger' sign and over the rope we went with our guide Rodger and the 3 other couples we were with, before Rodg stopped us and explained that we shouldn't stop for the next 30 metres because it was a dangerous rock slide area and to keep moving at all times! This trip was gunna be fun!! Before continuing we made a brief stop so Rodg could go and tell the Chinese/Japanese tourist that had followed us over the danger ropes etc (!!) that they were putting their lives at risk by continuing any further without a guide. What is wrong with some people?! There was no need to even read English the pictures said enough showing rocks and ice falling on people!
Anyway through the danger zone we ventured and over the stream/river that was ahead. This time even Mark managed to stay dry although I think that was due to correct foot wear!

The glacier was looming ahead of us but as Rodg had already explained, the terminal face of the glacier is the most dangerous part due to large chunks of ice constantly peeling away from the front, therefore we would be climbing up the bush that grows along the mountain side next to the glacier and then onto to the glacier side much higher up where it was safer.

The danger at the front of the glacier is only too real as in December just gone two Australian guys were killed by a 10,000 ton block of ice that fell onto them while they were taking pictures. They had bypassed the warning signs and ropes which are meant to keep people away from dangerous areas and one was taking a picture of the other when the ice fell as their parents looked on in horror. I had actually seen a clipping of a newspaper article about it in the local I-Site in Franz Josef but as Rodg told the story it made me shudder. He went on to explain that he had actually worked in the mountain search and rescue team for 40 years before becoming a glacier guide 9 years ago (this made me feel safer!) and that it becomes difficult to call situations like this when you have to put someone elses life in danger in order to extract the bodies etc. however they used a excavator and recovered one body and the other one was washed out by the river a few days later.
As a guide he explained there have been numerous times he has encountered people risking their lives by climbing over the ropes to go and 'touch' the glacier at the front even though there are massive overhangs of ice right above them and once he had witnessed a massive block of ice fall from the front and a few minutes later some unsuspecting tourists had climbed over the ropes and stood on this said block to take pictures not realising that the ground they were standing on had only just fallen from its perch. Pretty scary!

So after making a mental note NEVER to cross any kind of barriers etc we soon found ourselves at the foot of the bush that we had to climb to get on the glacier, approx 700 steps mostly going up! Along the route Rodg tried to keep our minds distracted from our trembling thighs (or maybe just mine!) by telling us all about the flora and fauna that surrounded us and explaining some more about the glaciers formation etc. He showed us the point in the valley out in the distance which is where the glacier had been 60 years ago when he was born and then pointed up high where the glacier had advanced to when he had started to guide 9 years ago so even though overall the glacier has retreated significantly in the last 60 years it is actually advancing at the moment by about 1 metre a day on average! Pretty weird to think that it will have moved by a metre just the next day after we climbed it!

We were soon at the base of the glacier where we were going to be climbing up some freshly prepared ice steps that had been recarved for us. We donned our crampons and picked up an alpenstock each (basically a stick with a metal spike in it to help keep steady as there's nothing to grab onto up there other than smooth ice!!) and made our way up the 'stairs'. The glaciers texture is really strange as it isn't the smooth block of ice I was imagining but all jagged and with big gashes through it in some places and holes. The ice is actually carved and shaped by the wind more so than the sun and it was covered in earth and rocks in some places where the mountain sides had collapsed onto it. We stopped at the highest point we would be reaching for the day and took in the scenery which included the top of Mount Tasman in the distance. Every now and then the sound of a helicopter or small plane broke the silence (another way of seeing the glaciers) but apart from that it was a pretty end of the world kind of experience as we looked out onto the river bed and valley below which had been formed by the very ice we stood on millions of years ago.

We had just over an hour on the ice which was plenty as the wind was pretty nippy before heading back along the same route we came in on. The trip was well worth the approx £32 each that we had paid (have we mentioned how cheap it is here?!?!) and I'd definitely recommend it.

After receiving our certificates to say that we have climbed the glacier we set off towards Wanaka which is near Queenstown in search of the recommended Cinema Paradiso that Mark had read about in the Lonely Planet guide. The main attraction to it is that instead of regular seats it is kitted out with sofas and comfy chairs and cushions. There's even a Morris Minor on one side to give you to whole 'Drive-In' feel!! How sad are we, in this beautiful country having just climbed one of the few accessible glaciers in the world and we couldn't wait to get to the cinema! Well they also had fresh warm cookies, homemade ice cream or you could order anything from their food menu and have it served to you in the interval, so I'm not quite sure what excited us the most but all we knew was we had to get there tonight!

So…the mammoth trip took around 3 ½ hours which included numerous stops to take pictures of Lake Wanaka and Lake …………. which were back dropped by snow capped mountains. The scenery was amazing and we were lucky to have a clear day to see it. We arrived in Wanaka and headed to the cinema to see what was showing as it only has one screen! Tonight we would be watching The Watchmen which is kind of like an X-Men film, not that it really mattered what was showing as we weren't missing this experience for anything! As we had about 2 hours to kill before the doors opened we decided to have dinner in the camper and just gorge on sweet things at the cinema!

When we arrived the previous film was still showing so we had to wait around for like 30 minutes before we were let in to take our seats. The room was pretty small, nothing like a proper cinema but this just added to its charm and we settled onto our chosen sofa (the Minor didn't look so comfy!) laden with a warm chocolate cookie each and some traditional lemonade. The film was ok….really long but the interval was a welcomed break and a chance to purchase some homemade ice cream. Mark choosing Passionfruit and me with Kahlua Coffee. Yuummmy!

We went to bed happy and content and the days activities and still undecided on what to do in Queenstown the next day.