Glacier hike today which was AWESOME!! Walked down to the station at about 10:15am with Gina - a girl from Ireland - and put on all the gear they gave us. Overtrousers (really baggy!), thick socks, big boots that weighed about 5kg each, gloves, beanie and a raincoat. We were also given ice talonz for walking on the ice. We got on the bus at 11am and headed to the glacier carpark. From there it was a one hour trek to the glacier base where we attached the talonz t...

Bus picked me up at 8am this morning and we headed to Hokitika to check ou teh greenstone shop and glass blowing. We then headed to Ross - and old mining town where people coud try their luck at godl panning for $7 - something I decided not to do but had fun watching instead! It took us two hours to get to Franz Josef arriving at Midday. Absolutely beautiful here with snow capped mountains in our 'backyard' but pretty chilly! The hostel here it fantastic. Lovel...