Poor Charlie, it was a 7am departure from Greymouth to head to Franz Josef the place famous for it's Glacier. We had a much needed stop at 9am in Hokitika where they had a rather nice cafe and lots of Greenstone shops. We then headed on to Ross which is historic town made famous for it's gold mining. We could do a bit of gold panning if we wanted but it was only in tubs of water and it was all too set up for me and they gave you your stones with a bit of gold in it and all you had to do was get the stones out and leave the gold in by swirling it in a special way. I didn't do it as it was a bit too staged for me. Good to see the old technique though!

We also stopped at a little museum thing - a bit like a hunting lodge where we watched a wicked video about how they culled deers when they got over run by them and also how they went on to adapt there technique so they actually caught them for farming. It basically consisted of them directing a helicopter above the deer and someone throwing themselves out of the helicopter on to the deer and tackling them to the ground!!! There were also possums and other bits and bobs you could see but they had just done it really well.

When we got to Franz Josef I happened to see a deer leather passport holder wallet thing so it felt like fate that I should just buy it - it felt so soft! That afternoon we headed up for a half day hike up the Franz Josef glacier - thankfully the rain held off for us and we had a good walk. I was a bit concerned about the old knee as it hasn't been the best and we had to wear the heaviest boots and crampons in the world but it was just fine. It took a while to get up there but some parts had the most beautiful blue iice. Other bits were a bit dirty where they have rock falls and things. If you wanted clear endless views of the white and blue ice you had to head up to the top on a helicopter but I haven't won the lottery yet so that wasn't an option!! The nasty boots gave us blisters but it was a good afternoon (if not a little cold when we finally got up there). It seemed to help Charlies hangover no end as well.

We stayed at the glow worm cottages that night but they messed up the reservation so we were in a dorm room - just when I was getting used to the privacy of the tiwn rooms!! I'll have to go back to the dorm rooms when Charlie goes anyway but I am making the most of her presence right now!

It was ANOTHER early start the following morning so we could head off to Lake Wanaka.