Arrived in Franz Josef at around 6pm.... (after stopping every 20 minutes to take pics...Jo again!) we checked into the YHA hostel and decided after a long drive a pizza was in order... this turned out to be a big mistake.... the only takeaway pizza shop here and it was disgusting! We went to bed starving!! (Much to Jo's disappointment!)

We got up the following day at a ridiculous hour of 6:30am, checked out of the hostel and made our way to the Franz Josef activity centre....... after having some coco pops of course! Here we got kitted out in our hiking gear and all loaded onto a bus for a 5 minute drive to the start of our walk. When we first saw the glacier, we were stood in a wide open valley floor which until recently was a lake but has now drained out leaving only a small river! This is where we split into groups and start a 50 minute hike to get to the foot of the glacier! We were shocked at how large the glacier actually was when we got up close! Its huge!!

Here we sat and put on our crampons (boot spikes!) and stepped onto the ice glacier! Its such a strange feeling when the ice is literally melting beneath your feet! After a 20 minute steep climb we reached the point where the guide informed us the half day tours finish! So worth the extra $60 to do the full day!! We were in a group of 12 & we made sure we were at the back stopping every 5 minutes to pose for another pic before running on the ice to catch up!

We then climbed the glacier for another 3 and half hours which involved some really steep curves and the creation of ice steps with a pick axe until we hit a point where all the ice was blue! At this point we had to begin our descent, shimmying through the tiniest of crevices.... some 20ft deep and very tight to get through! We got very wet... well Craig did, we had such good fun! We ate our lunch in-between an ice crevice!

We arrived back on the bus 8 hours after leaving it and we had planneds to drive to Picton.... this did not happen.... our legs would not let it!! Instead we checked back into the YHA hostel and had the best nights sleep ever!

Absolutely great day!!!