FRANZ JOSEF

We all arrived in franz josef a little worse for wear after the poo party, so luckily for us the hostel hot tub looked very inviting so we headed straight into that for a good couple of hours. After some rest we decided it would be a laugh to head out paintballing in the NZ jungle just around the corner from the hostel. So we managed to get a group of 10 of us including the driver from the kiwi bus and headed down to the jungle. It was an awesome couple of hours, the jungle was dense as hell, you could probably see no further than 20 metres which made paintballing here that little bit different!! In 6 rounds i only used 75 balls, probably got hit about 20 times though! But it was awesome seriously worth it!

After an early night me, guy and slates headed over to the franz josef glacier for an 8 hour glacier hike. We chcucked on some crampons and cold weather gear and where led up the glacier by our guide and crazy axe weilder, Bruce! We had an awesome day walking up the glacier, really worth it although i think by the time we got back on the bus we were slightly bored of walking, i think we all prefer jumping out of planes, but it was nice to do something scenic.

We got back to the hostel and had another hot tub session to relax out tired feet. Me and sam then headed out to the bar saying we were just going for a pint but it ended up in 8 or 9 by the end of the evening!! It was a little silly in the end as we had to be up at 6 for our skydive but as our gap year motto says, you only live once!! So thursday morning came and the phone alarms went off! We all quickly got out of bed to check the weather for our sunrise skydives, and we were in luck it was completly clear!! We were soon picked up by the shuttle bus and we arrived at the skydive place which looked much more "budget" than the one in taupo. Me and guy went first in this tiny little plane, only two people could go at a time and we left sam on land looking somewhat nervous! We got to 12,000 feet over the fox glacier with mount cook and mount tasman straight below us looking amazing as the sun came over them! I jumped first and then guy quickly followed. The view was amazing i had the open sea on one side and the highest mountain in new zealand on the other with the fox glacier below me. I can see why this was voted the second best skydive in the world after mount everest!! Then as i was gliding down in the parachute which i was steering because my instructor had let me, he says look to your right and no further than 20metres away from me guy was gliding down in his parachute!! Absolutely awesome, couldn't believe how close we got!! We soon landed feeling elated and full of adrenaline!! I have a small feeling that i am turning into a bit of an adrenaline junkie!!