12th July 2009

On our way here we first stopped off in Hokitika parking up by the sea where there was an old boat and anchor we took some pictures of. I also took a pictrure of these 2 little dogs this kid was walking as one was spray painted pink and the other blue, lol!! From here we drove further south to Okarito, 15k off the main highway, a tiny town with a population of 32, a few houses and a Kayak centre, no shop, no atm, nothing! There was a free campsite with good toliet and shower facilities and places where we could have a fire but it was still fairly early and with nothing to do me and Miek got bored so continued onto Franz Josef.

We arrived here mid afternoon and found a really nice campsite called Rainforest Retreat. The facilities were really good, they had log cabins and campsites hidden among the rainforest. After we parked up we walked around the town. It is a very small town but really nice and has such a christmas feel to it and its surrounded by snow caped mountains and is so cold, especially and night! We bought some tealights as when we arent plugged into electric our camper is really cold but they didnt really make much difference, lol! We had some drinks and had dinner then chilled oput for the night as we had decided to attempt a 5 hour walk tomorrow!!

13th July 2009

So we woke up this morning and piled on our layers, hats and gloves for our walk! We then drove a few kilometres up the road to a carpark where lots of different walks start from. There are various walks set out for you to do, most of them between 0-2 hours, but Mike wanted a challenge and so chose to do the 5 hour 20 mintue one, 13k ! To be honest I didnt think we would actually do it but we did! We climbed all the way to the top of the moutain with amazing views over the glacier.

OMG though, it was the hardest, longest, toughest hike/trek/walk/climb either of us have ever done! The first 3k was fairly easy, a gravel path up and down through the rainforest. We then walked over the first swingbridge and that is when we began to sweat!! We came to a big sign after the swingbridge saying, 'DANGER, Do not continue passed this sign unless you have a guide or are an experienced hiker'! But Mike being Mike saw this as a challenge and so insisted we continued even after my health and safety speech, lol!! The sign was right, after here we had a very steep drop to climb down with a good 30m drop right by the side of us. I slid down most of this bit on my bum!

We ahd to climb over water creeks, massive rocks, steep inclines and declines, it was so hardcore! There was no one else around at all. After about 2 hours we still couldnt see the top of the moutain at all and were climbing steeper and steeper, we were losing all motivation and energy. But another 20 mintues later and we had made it, we were so relieved. The bllod, sweat and tears were definately worthwhile, the views were amazing! After taking pictures, and having lunch, Mike decided to remove a few items of clothes for a couple motre photos. We then realised that the only way back down, was the excact way we had walked up!! It was harder going down as it was so steep and more easy to slip and fall. By now we were both knackered and very sweaty, but eventually after another 2 hours we made it down. It was so hard but we were pleased with our achievement!!!

We drove straight top a campsite from here and both had the longest hot shower ever and then collapsed in bed!