Sitting in a tiny bunkhouse lounge with rain falling steadily outside and my damp trousers gently steaming in the hear of the log fire, it's hard to remember that the last few days have actually been beautifully sunny...
Like this one, we delayed our plans and waited out the last rainfall back at Fox glacier. The fronts seem to do a two-way pincer movement in these parts and high pressure sets in pretty reliably afterwards. It cleared up just lovely last time and we had a fun day learning how to use crampons and ice-axes and climb up glaciers - Fox in particular - and not a mint in sight. We both loved it and even managed to do the slightly overhanging climb with degrees of panic that were inversely proportional to our relative heights.
The next day we finally resolved our dependency on dairylea triangles as a sandwich filling by making knives for ourselves. We joined seven other people at Barrytown Knifemaking in forging, drilling, sticking, sanding and polishing up bits of iron, brass and wood to make some pretty scary-looking and cheddar-cheese-chop-worthy knives. No one is going to mess with US any more. At least, not until we have to post them home (because there's no chance in the world we can take them on a plane as hand luggage).
Yesterday we made the most of the last of the sunny weather and went underground. Specifically we went caving at Charleston caving adventures. The main aim here was to see glow worms and we weren't disappointed. To be honest, if I was still working in telly I would try and find a story here because the absolute mission you have to go through to actually see the amazing colony of glow worms would make an awesome sequence. First intrepid presenter catches a tiny train along a picturesque river through some really pretty rainforest. Then comedy scenes as intrepid presenter dons seven thousand layers of wetsuit trying to hide behind a palm tree in a field. Then we pick up some tyre inner tubes and begin walking through the bush. After passing dozens of giant fern trees and climbing a 150 steps cut into a cliff, intrepid presenter reaches the mouth of an ominous looking cave. Intrepid presenter checks out some elegant and captivating cave formations before finally reaching a dark lake deep underground. *This is where the glow worm bits come in and I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Suffice to say I wasn't sure if I was facing up or down and I could happily have stayed there for days.* But that's not the end, finally intrepid presenter floats on the inner tube back out into tropical daylight and joins a big river heading back the way we came. After overcoming some real challenges like occasionally becoming grounded by his/her own bottom and getting a vicious splashing by some rapids, intrepid presenter finally makes it back to the changing field and safety.
It would be amazing sequence wouldn't it? All I need is a programme, a purpose, a job and then I'm sorted!