I was up at 8 to put on as many layers as I could find, eat a hearty breakfast and walk the 5 minutes to the glacier hiking centre to meet my guide. I met my companions for the day, Hans and Mel, a German couple who had endured the frozen night in their camper van, something Hans was quick to complain about! We were issued with all the requisite safety gear and given a quick briefing by our guide for the day, Jeremy. It is a depressing point I’ve been noticing more and more that, in a twist from the situation last time I travelled, this time many of my guides are actually younger than me. He was a nice guy though and we chatted a bit as we headed for the face. Before getting on the Ice we had to walk for about an hour around the side to the point where the guides had cut out a stairway for us to get up. The Fox Glacier is an extremely active one, Jeremy estimated it had moved around 150 metres forward between the 1950’s and 80’s, before retreating 20 metres and now for the last 15 years had been moving forwards again, regaining the ground it had lost. As such the front of the ice is a very dangerous area, with frequent large icefalls, the reason for mounting the ice from the side some way up.

For the next half hour we followed the track set for the half day hike before branching off and having our own route worked out for us by Jeremy. We soon come across a large crack, big enough to climb into from the side, and took some photos. Soon after we stopped for lunch over at the side, finding some dry rocks to perch on. As we sat and asked questions there was a sudden rumble which sounded rather similar to the earthquake I’d been present for in Melbourne. Jeremy looked startled and declared it was the loudest movement of ice he’d heard in three years guiding, we weren’t sure whether to be impressed or empty our bowels! It was soon time to move on and the afternoon was spent heading as high as we could while exploring caves and tunnels. The highlight was a long zigzagging crack in the ice which barely had room to fit me through, let alone poor Hans who had an extra 20 kilos to slide between the ice. Eventually, after a mild panic attack, Hans was free and we were all able to have a bit of a laugh about it. The trip was a great adventure and I’d recommend it to anyone with a good level of fitness, although apparently the heli-hike’s even better, just considerably more expensive!

Back at the hostel I ate dinner watching ’Lord of the Rings’ (never did get to choose the damn movie in that cinema room) and headed to bed for an early night. The bus trip to Nelson was to be a 9 hour epic and I wanted a good sleep.