Hi there folks!

Well, last time we blogged we'd just arrived in the town of Franz Josef Glacier, handily named as it happens to be right next to Franz Josef Glacier! No doubt you've all been on tenterhooks wondering what on earth we could've been up to there!

We'd been anticipating a half day hike on the glacier, which we'd heard was easily enough hard work for the amateur glacier trekker. Cooper had also looked into scenic helicopter flights, which seemed like a bit of fun too!

On our first morning in the town we walked into the Franz Josef Glacier Centre, again, handily named as it's in the centre of town, and we enquired about potential guided hikes we could do and/or scenic helicopter flights. Now it's a well known fact that a good salesman sees a Nixon coming a mile off...this guy needed only about 30 feet and promptly persuaded both of us that an heli-hike was what we were really after!

It appears that any trip without helicopter would only take us a short way up the glacier and only passed boring rocks, ice and snow. We don't like boring now we've got to New Zealand, we now like doing things 'to the MAX!' So we booked ourselves onto an afternoon heli-hike and pottered off for some well-earned luncheon!

On our return to the FJGC eager to off in the chopper we were devastated to hear that the heli-hike had been called off due to the high winds on the glacier and that we could put our names down for an early morning flight the next day. We did this and left, dejected and sad.

Cooper remembered spotting a leaflet for another activity she fancied though, so keen to avoid a completely wasted day we organised ourselves a twilight pony trek! Very nice too, and there's no way the weather could put that off...or was there???

We turned up at the ... err... ranch(?) No, no...stables! Yes, we turned up at the stables and signed all the relevant paperwork saying we won't sue them should the horses throw us from their backs and trample all over us etc etc. The horse lady, Jen, came and asked us what experience we had riding and I began telling her about the Camels in India, the Elephants in Thailand, not to mention many years riding a bike thank you very much! Apparently riding horsies is somewhat different to riding a bike though and with our combined inexperience she was concerned that we may not be able to handle the horses as they were a bit agitated by the wind! The DAMN WIND!!! Ruining our day!

To try and brighten things up we went and got a take-away curry from the local Injin...very nice too it was and made us both feel a lot better...though, then there really was some wind going around!

We rose bright and breezy the next day, although we tried to be as little breezy as possible, and set off to the FJGC with fingers crossed that the weather wouldn't impede our plans yet again. Success! Toshi informed us that we couldn't have picked a better day for it, I refrained from telling him that in fact we had.

Kitted out with raincoats, waterproof trousers, boots, socks, hats and mittens, yes mittens not to mention several undergarments...we were ready to take on the glacier! There was a group of about ten of us and so split into two groups, Cooper and I both watched as the first group got into the belly-popper and whizzed off glacier-wards!

Soon it was our turn, and as a first-timer I have to say despite recent high adrenalin activities I was a bit nervous. It was an odd feeling as we took off vertically then lurched forward through the air. The pilot mentioned a few landmarks but to be honest I wasn't paying any attention because he also kept tilting the chopper this way and that way for us to get better views and I wasn't sure how comfortable I was with this! That said, the views were incredible, especially up at the top of the glacier where we could see all the undulations and contours. Cooper noted that it looked like a giant meringue, or cake topping!

Somehow the pilot found the exact spot to land on. A tricky task given the pure white landscape offering little in the way of landmarks to guide his way in.

Our following two hours were excellent! I think the ten of us in our group all found our inner-child as we slipped and slid through ice caves and tunnels. We did all appreciate the fantastic views from our icey vantage point, not to mention the incredible force of the glacier displayed by the enormous cravasses forging their way though the river of ice and snow, but I think everyone's favourite part was sliding down a snowy bank on our bums!

After a brief belly-popper ride back to town we were soon our way to the stables for a pony trek! With somewhat altered clothing now, as we'd got really warm up on the glacier once the sun had come out, we saddled up on Zeb (short for Zebra, Katie's horsey) and Kiawah, my noble steed! Jen (horse lady remember?!) took us for a bit of a wander through fields and across a (shallow) river. It was very pleasant although a tiny bit uncomfortable, we'll come back to that though!

After a while, Jen suggested that we trot for a while...now I thought we were fine just plodding along, but apparently you have to trot and to cut a slightly embarrassing story short, I have newfound respect for jockeys! We did manage to trot eventually but it took some time to realise where I was going wrong. To Cooper's credit, she picked it up quickly, but then she has the advantage of having done this before! As for me, Camel and Elephant riding is NOTHING like horse riding!

By the end of our trek we were both thoroughly enjoying horse riding and I think we'll be keeping an eye out for where we can do it again I think. That said, since dismounting sitting down has been something of an issue...saddle sore!

We left Franz Josef Glacier pleased with our achievements and how lazily we'd achieved them...taking a helicopter up to the glacier, foregoing all the hard hiking. Then going for a trek, but actually just sitting on a horse and letting it do all the hard work!

Our overnight destination was Greymouth, which is the main city of an area called Grey! We thought it was grey-t! Hahaha!

Anyway, we're now booked on the inter-islander ferry for tomorrow, so with just a day in the fine city of Nelson beforehand, today we visited the beach! Nearby is the Abel Tasman national park and it is bordered by beautiful clear blue seas. Uninterested in the national park having seen our fair share of them for now, we headed for what must be the only sandy beach in New Zealand! If not the only, then certainly the best, is Kaiteriteri Beach, as it's apparently rated in the top five in the world. It's not hard to see why, there's golden sand, clear sea and the scenery is all national park, so green forests and mountains. On our return to Nelson, we stopped by the oldest pub in New Zealand, a funny little place, more like a village hall than a pub, but served a distinctive pint nonetheless!

For lunch today we sought out an Honest Lawyer in Monaco! Unsurprisingly this is an English style pub in a suburb of Nelson rather than scrutable attorney from Monte Carlo. We sat out in the sunshine enjoying our fine pub grub discussing our forthcoming departure from New Zealand, just ten days remaining!

We've had to keep a close eye on the recent events in the Pacific as we're not entirely sure how it will affect our plans. We're confident that the areas we'll be visiting in Tonga are unaffected by the tsunami but Samoa seems to be far worse off and so we're unsure whether we'll be able to travel there.

One final note before we sign off from Nelson and indeed New Zealand's South Island, could everyone who reads this blog please write on the message board! Whether we know you or not, in fact especially if we don't know you. We've noticed a distinct lack of activity there and now that the blogs are going up more frequently we're keen to know our audience! Also, we liked it when there was loads of discussion on there!

Toodle pip one and all

Nick and Katie

xxx