The following day we were still really high from our sky diving adventure and headed off to the west coast; Franz Josef from the beautiful Lake Wanaka. Its a shame we didnt have longer at Lake Wanaka as its a beautifully serene pĺace but we had to get to the west coast ready for our glacier walk. The drive was breathtaking! The view of the snow topped mountains were in sight for pretty much the whole of the drive. We stopped off at a waterfall and then Haast beach were we ate lunch amongst the hungry seagulls. Pete spotted a Porpoise which was a highlight although not all of us saw it!

When we got to Franz Josef we were pleased to learn that we had a nice little four share room with our own balcony. All of our accomodation places so far have been really different and I think weve all looked forward to seeing where we will sleep the next night. We chilled in the hot summer sun that afternoon before enjoying a curry and eagerly awaiting our glacier hike the following day. Julie, Ash and I also made a late night visit to the sauna within the hostel which relaxed us nicely for a good night sleep. This wasn't the case for Ash and Pete though as they headed out around 9.30pm in search of glow worms. Julie and I are still dubious as to how amazing they claimed them to be!

On the morning of the walk we reported in around 10.30am before listening to a brief and getting kitted up with boots, crampons, waterproofs and woolly hats and gloves. Off we then went in a bus to the base of the glacier; well so we thought! After a short walk through forestry we reached the base of the glacier. Gain we wasn't quite at the glacier. At this point we split into four smaller groups and guessed how far we had to walk to reach the glacier. The valley seemed to play some kind of optical illusion as we learnt the glacier was still over a mile away! Off we went in our smaller groups towards the glacier and before we knew it we were learning how to fit crampons on and gearing up in our waterproof coats ready to hit the ice. Our guide Turtle amused us along the way and gave us some interesting facts about the glacier itself. We all enjoyed climbing and walking on the glacier and got an appreciation for how big it actually was. After enjoying lunch on a relatively flat part we then started our descent back down the glacier and back to the bus. Phew we were all pretty tired from nearly a full days activity.

The day was topped off ideally with a visit to the Hot Pools in Franz Josef which consisted of three pools. all of different temperatures ranging from 36C to 42C. Ahhhhhhhhhh just the relaxation we needed at the end of an enjoyable but hard day on the glacier. A great day had by all.