We have continued down the west coast and have made it to Franz Joseph….eventually – home of the famous Franz Joseph Glacier which we are hoping to conquer at some point during our time here.

Before we arrived in Franz Joseph we had a one night stop over in Greymouth. We didn’t know if we were going to make it as once we left Abel Tasman the mountain pass was closed due to heavy snow. We parked ourselves in a roadside Café for what we were told could have been up to a 5 – 6 hour wait!! Luckily the road workers got the road cleared temporarily and after a mad dash to the bus we were through before the next big dump of snow! We made a couple of scenic stops on the way to Greymouth including the Punakaki Pancake Rocks and Mapourika Lake which were great but we don’t really have much to tell you all about Greymouth! It’s a pretty quiet town – we checked into Neptune’s Hostel – got another PVC garden shed (a so called cabin) in the car park for the night to sleep in and looked forward to arriving in Franz Joseph!

We were staying in the Rainforest Retreat in Franz Joseph – a place which we were told was amazing and we were very lucky to be staying there………it was alright!! Franz Joseph itself though was beautiful – a very quiet, small town at the foot of the Southern Alps which only seems to exist because of the tourism brought in by the glacier hiking, skydiving and mountain activities! The first night we cooked dinner in the unbelievably overcrowded kitchen, had a couple of beers in the hostel bar and headed to bed early ahead of our glacier hike in the morning!

The morning of our hike was stunning – hardly a cloud in the sky and wall to wall sunshine – perfect! We got kitted out in the Glacier Guide Centre with waterproofs, boots and crampons (spikes for the bottom of your shoes for walking on ice) and jumped on the bus which took us to the car park from where we started our hike. There was a group of around 11 of us who wanted to go into the slow group – so we didn’t have to rush and could take our time getting photos and making the most of our time on the ice……...nothing at all to do with concerns about our fitness!! Unfortunately our guide, Tobias, had other ideas and ended up splitting us into different groups with us lot being dumped in the fast group! “Don’t worry” he said, “we’ll not be running up”….aye dead on Tobias we know what that means and we were right. It was a fast paced hike up the glacier – bloody hard work but one of the best things we have done since being on the trip! The glacier doesn’t look like much from the valley but when you eventually get up onto it is it enormous!! We walked the first part over gravel then up onto the ice where we had to put on our crampons to stop us slipping around – we were glad of them because it was pretty treacherous in places! We went through tunnels, ice caves and really tight crevices on our way up – it was surreal! After a brief stop for lunch we hiked another 30 minutes to a flat spot about half way up the glacier where another couple of groups had stopped. This had the feeling of an ambush…………sure enough an enormous snowball fight broke out between the 3 groups with us undoubtedly coming out on top with no casualties – we brought all our men (and women) out alive from the battle of Franz Joseph…….it was such a laugh and really perked us up after the tough hike up!! From here we started our descent back down and the trek back was much more enjoyable. We went on a different route down the glacier which was much less steep so we could take our time, take in a lot of the surroundings, stop for photos, the lot – this was more like it! We finished up getting pulled through one of the ice caves towards the bottom of the glacier which was fun and then it was back on the bus to head back to the hostel. We had been told that the best thing to do after a full day glacier hike was to go the Glacier Hot Pools which just happened to be right across the road from our accommodation. They have heated outdoor pools at 36, 38 and 40 degrees which you just soak in and get some heat back in your bones after a day on the ice. When we arrived the man/woman (we weren’t sure) at reception asked us if we wanted to book a private pool and changing rooms for an extra $24 – sounded good to us so in we went. It was exactly what we needed and really relaxed us after what was a brilliant but tough day! We grabbed a bite to eat with the rest of our group in the hostel bar that night but didn’t stay up too late as we had an early rise tomorrow for the scariest, most exciting and probably stupidest thing either of us has ever done…………..

7:00am on Saturday 16th July 2011 and us 2 eejits were jumping out of a plane at dawn over the Fox Glacier, Mt Tasman and Mt Cook in the Southern Alps…..sure what else would you be at on a Saturday morning?? We woke up a bit nervous (Laura seemed much more composed than I was expecting – perhaps she thought she was still asleep) but it was another amazing morning – perfect for jumping out of a plane we were told!! We made our way in the dark by bus through to the small airfield (really a field with a couple of sheds and 2 planes) where we were doing our jump. A few of the other girls from our group were doing the jump also so there were 8 of us in total – we were number 5 and 6!! We got suited up and given a brief tutorial on how to bend your body when they hang you out of the plane, did brief interviews for our DVD’s and we were off! The 4 of us and the pilot filled the plane (it was another one of those flying washing machines) but it was a pretty smooth ride up! Even if we were not jumping out of the plane the flight alone would have been worth the money! The snow covered mountains and the Fox Glacier in the morning sun were just stunning – you’ll see the DVD to see what we mean when we get back! After a few minutes we seemed pretty high up already when my instructor “Big Rod” told me we were only at 2,000 feet – “oh right – just another 10,000 to go then before we jump” – the nerves had well and truly kicked in now! Another few minutes passed and we were at the jump height – 12,000ft (the same height as Mt Cook beside us). Laura was first to go, the door was opened and she was shuffled over to the edge by Kitch, her instructor……1,2,3 she was gone – did my girlfriend just fall out of a plane???!!!! I was next – holy crap I cannot believe I was doing this!! Big Rod swung me under out and under the plane…the noise was deafening…then the tap on the shoulder and we were gone!! The first few seconds feel like your stomach is going to come out your mouth but once you’re falling for a few seconds it all seems to calm down – a very weird feeling and not at all like I was expecting! We were falling at 120mph or the equivalent of a 20 storey building every second for 45 seconds before he pulled the parachute….it opened…..phew! The rest of the glide down felt like slow motion in comparison but I got to take a few of my own snaps and enjoy the scenery! A couple of minutes later we were back on the ground and watching Laura come into land. Big Rod and I had landed first because we were much heavier than Laura and her instructor so we fell faster – it was cool seeing her spiral towards the field before a perfect landing!! We were both over the moon and full of adrenaline – that was the best thing we had ever done!! We went back to the airfield and the other girls all were of the same opinion – everyone loved it! We got our DVD’s and headed off – what a morning!! We met up with the bus at Lake Matheson also known as the mirror lake but we were too late to walk round to the far side and get photo’s so we will steal a few and try and put them up for you!

We headed off to Makarora for accommodation that night stopping at Ship Creek, Thunder Creek Falls and the Blue Pools along the way. We were in a cabin with a few of the others tonight from our group and we finally got what we considered to be a cabin – not one of the sheds like in the last 2 places! It had been an exhausting 2 days so it was an early night for everyone – what a weekend so far!!

NZ is amazing!

Craig and Laura = )