Our next stopover was just that, essentially just a stop to break up the journey between Abel Tasman and Franz Josef, so after taking a few walks, as well as seeing more seals on the rocks, we drove into Westport, just for an evening. We, and a few others, took up the offer of a brewery tour around the corner from our hostel, where they brew local ale! It was a great opportunity to finally get to know the people on our new bus, and of course it ended with a classic sausage sizzle, the staple of Australia and NZ (literally beef sausages, in a piece of sliced bread, maybe onions, maybe sauce)! There’s not much else to say about Westport except for the fact that we then had an ice cream party, courtesy of our bus driver! We, of course, set off the next morning as early as possible, and stopped at the Pancake Rocks on the way! Like many things in New Zealand, the name pretty much describes what they were, naturally formed rocks that looked like stacked up pancakes. True to form, you could also buy pancakes at the cafe next to the rocks! This short walk made a nice break on the long journey to Franz Josef, which we eventually arrived in once it was dark. Extremely luckily for us, we’d arrived at the hostel on Pizza Fest night, which was all you can eat pizza for an hour and a half! We all definitely made the most of this, with some people even sneaking some away for their lunch the next day! The kitchen in this hostel was particularly nasty, so we avoided cooking for the whole 2 days we were there, except for at lunch times when it was quiet! As we were staying 2 nights in Franz Josef, we had the whole of the next day for our activity, which was a hike up the glacier! Activities in Franz Josef famously get cancelled a lot (like 70% of the time!), so we were praying for good weather and no cloud when we woke up and we were very lucky that our hike was going ahead. Admittedly, a (small) part of me was hoping it would perhaps be cancelled, due to my fear of flying in a helicopter! But, we got kitted out in many layers provided by the company, taught how to put crampons (the spiky things that help you walk on ice) on our shoes, and took the long (green mile long, in my head), walk to board the helicopter. To my surprise, it took mere seconds for the ‘copter to take off once we were all strapped in, and it was pretty enjoyable to sit with our headsets on listening to the captain talk! Once we’d landed on a very tiny patch of ice (we would see at the end of the hike just how tiny the gap to land was!), we popped our crampons on and began the few hours of (not really strenuous) hiking up and down the glacier. On the way, our guide showed us blue ice, ‘treated’ us to a drink of glacier water and we squeezed through tiny gaps in the ice! The crampons definitely worked as no one slipped over and it didn’t even feel that cold with all our layers on. The whole experience was amazing, perhaps barring the moment we heard an avalanche careering down the hill ahead, until our guide told us that this happens all the time, this was only a small one with ice the ‘size of vans’!? Luckily, there was a valley that the avalanches routinely fell into. All too soon, it was time to reboard the helicopter and make our way back to the ground. We spent the afternoon treating ourselves in the hot pools, which were included with our heli hike ticket! There were 3 pools, with the hottest about the same temperature as the sulphur pool in Rotorua (40c I think!?), while the two other pools were colder at 36c and 38c. It was definitely a treat to sit in the hot pools (for hours!) after our hike, and we returned to the hostel relaxed and still buzzing from our amazing day.

Highlights: Everything about the heli hike!

Accomodation: YHA Westport, Rainforest Retreat (Franz Josef)