8/8/9 Lake Mahinapua to Franz Josef

We left the Poo pub nursing hangovers after being wished a good onward trip by Les. The people in the next dorm to us had been kept awake through the night with phils mega snoring...he tried to say it was Liz, as if !!!! We called into the Bushmans centre near Pukekura for a visit to see the museum and animals there. Outside were two huge deer stags standing very close to the carpark so we got some great shots of them. The Bushmans centre is an interactive information centre charting the lives of the people of the West Coast. We watched a DVD about the history of deer farming in NZ. It showed the early capture and hunting of deer using helicopters to track them down then literally jumping on their backs from the moving helicopters!!!! it was really mad watching these big guys leaping onto the deer and fighting with them...deer farming is huge here and you see deer herds everywhere in the countryside. After the film we wandered around the "museum" which was really a whole lot of little tricks and jokes to make you jump...pretty good fun. After a big eat there we went on to Franz Josef our stop for the next two nights. On the way we decided to book another sky dive as the area is voted the most scenic commercial skydive in the world as it is over the Southern Alps and the Fox Glacier as well as the coast and lakes you can see. We would do that in the afternoon if all goes to plan. On arrival in Franz Josef we went to book a day hike on the Franz Josef glacier for the next day. We dropped our bags off at The Rainforest Retreat Hostel and were ready to go skydiving. We were taken to Fox where the airfield was...more of a field with a couple of old sheds to be honest!!! The plane was only able to carry four people and so we were able to go on one flight together. After being kitted out we waited for a few people to do their dives before it was our turn.Whilst waiting a helicopter came towards us carrying a dead deer on a rope under it. The deer was dropped into a nearby field and was a pretty amazing sight but pretty common here where hunting with helicopters is the norm!!! We met our dive masters and climbed aboard the tiny plane. We flew to 1200metres and the doors opened next to Liz. She jumped out closely followed by Phil. The views were really spectacular, snow covered peaks, mountains, glaciers, lakes, coast and really clear views for miles. As our canopies opened we could float to earth with the views. The dive masters steered us together and even touched our canopies so we could speak to each other...surreal. What an amazing jump!!!!! We returned to the airfield grinning from ear to ear having flown and dived over and round NZ two tallest mountains, Cook and Tasman and the Fox Glacier too......AWESOME !!!! (we aren't saying that regularly yet!!!) We were able to take our cameras with us so got shots of each other and Phil even filmed his parachute landing.
When we got back to the hostel we had fish and chips in the bar and joined Cam and Smiley our drivers for a quick drink. We got roped into a bar wife match of rock paper scissors and stayed for a few hours . Smiley and Cam kept buying different shots and we of course had to reciprocate: Baby Guinness, c*** ucking cowboy, Backdraft, Jagerbombs and Slippery Nipples. It all got a bit messy before we finally got to bed.

9/8/9 Franz Josef
We woke early and got ready for our walk on the glacier. After getting a few supplies from the supermarket we went to the base for the walks to pick up crampons and coats for the day. After a short drive we pulled into the car park and walked into the Tai Poutini National Park and onto the toe of the glacier. The franz Josef glacier is according to Maori legend the frozen tears of a maiden whos lover died in an avalanche. It is 12km long and descends from the Southern Alps to the rainforest 300m above sea level-one of only three in the world to do so. We were split into groups dependent on experience and we went up to the first two groups which were walking together for the first bit. These two groups were people with experience who had walked plenty and used crampons before...allegedly !! We arrived at the face of the glacier and climbed some ice steps where we stopped to attach our crampons. On top of the glacier we picked up ice axes for the remainder of the trip exploring the glaciers crevasses and other features. The pace of the walk was pretty slow and we got to the highest point of the route pretty easily and then began to explore. We went through crevasses with high ice walls to squeeze through. We crawled through caves and tunnels melted into the blue ice. We climbed and descended stairs and thats where the trouble began. a girl in our group had a massive panic and just couldn't cope with the ice walking at all and we had to wait for ages everytime she needed to do anything. We were all very patient and kind but it really held up our group and she really should have gone in a less experienced group. poor thing, she was really scared and thought she was going to fall to her death at any moment. We had a pretty good time exploring the glacial features and the ice looked really blue. We had brilliant weather again and it was blue sunny skies for the whole day....brilliant. We got back to the bus at 5.30 one and a half hours later than the other groups because of our delays. Back in town we had booked tickets for a hot pools opposite the hostel so we grabbed our swimming stuff and headed over there . There were three pools 36, 38 and 40 degrees amongst a canopy of trees and under canvas canopies and we had a lovely soak for about an hour. Most people from the glacier hike had the same idea and joined us. We had a quick pizza in the hostel bar and listened to the terrible locals karaoke before going to bed.