14th July 2009

We drove half an hour south to Fox Glacier this morning, it is half the size as Franz Josef but very similar. We drove straight to lake Matheson where Mike wanted to do another 1 and a half hour walk around the lake, I refused lol, but Mike bribed me with some cake at a cafe at the end of it so i reluctantly agreed! It was a much easier walk than yesterdays, just a gravel path all the way around the lake. About 30 mintues in we stopped at reflection point where we got some really good pictures of the mountains with its reflection in the lake. After here Mike couldnt be bothered either so we headed back to the camper to go to the cafe! The cafe was really nice with an open log fire.

later on we met up with Ashlin, Emma, james and Connor. We all spent the night in a layby by the main highway, no facilities but a free night!! We all had a really good night sat in our campervan drinking and watching each others skydive videos!

15th July 2009

We all woke up this morning and drove to a nearby campsite for the tonight as we will all be needing showers after our glacier climb today. We all chilled out in the morning as we werent climbing until this afternoon. Mine and Mikes electricity cut out due to a fault in our cable so we drove over the road to a garage and a guy there fixed it for us really quickly at no cost!

We then all got ready and went to the glacier centre to get kitted up. We had a 10 mintue bus ride to the base of the glacier where we then had a half hour walk over a really rocky area to get to the bottom of the rainforest. Here we had to climb 800 steps, stopping half way to fill up our water bottles with fresh water from a waterfall. After all the steps we then climbed onto the glacier. We had to put our spikes on our boots and get a pole each. We walked through a really small tunnel formed in the ice and over a staircase formed in the glacier, we got some really good pictures. We all had a really good time. Once we made it back we all showered and then headed to the pub here just before happy hour finished! We all got a couple of drinks in each and sat infront of a log fire.

After about an hour we were all sat here and everything started shaking! i first thought I was quickly drunk but when everyone else questions it, I realised it wasnt the drink but an EARTHQUAKE!! Everything was shaking and swinging everywhere it was crazy. We later found out that the epicentre was 5k into the sea south of Milford Sound (a 10 hour dfrive from where we were). It caused no damage but was the worst earthquake they have had in 72 years!!

So after all being freaked out by the earthquake we headed back to our campervan to have a few more drinks and play a few rounds of uno, good times!