Ice to see you, to see you ice!

As the alarm beeped this morning we arose to a slightly cloudy but relatively dry Franz Joseph as today was the day for our full day hike on the glacier.

Liz was really quite excited (more than I think she was letting on as she claims she didn't sleep well - I think she thought it was like Christmas!). We checked in for the day at 8.15am at the Franz Joseph site and got fully kitted out with extra socks, over trousers, boots, crampons, jackets and hats. Liz seemed to be a target for piss taking as first of all the guide offered her the extra large trousers, then said she was wearing hobbits boots and then called her "Shorty"! Again, as with most things I found this highly amusing!

We arrived at the foot of the glacier and split in to 3 groups based on ability, me being slightly over competitive and not wanting to be stuck at the back made Lizzy and I get to the front and in to the "adventurous and fit" group with Brett! Now whilst I was eager to get going I was a touch apprehensive about the Hobbit, sorry, I mean Liz! We had been on a short walk the day before and whilst traversing a very short gradient, I was up ahead and heard the gravel shift and a small expletive. As I turned around I saw my darling wife trying to get to her feet having taken a nasty little tumble.

Today was fantastic though. We were lead up the glacier to about 500 metres high with our guide cutting fresh ice steps along the way with his pickaxe (the same way they used to cut the steps in the 30's). It was amazing how varied the terrain is and how you expect it to be quite flat but it is so endulating it's incredible - thank god for the crampons.

We got to experience ice caves, very narrow crevasses, drops down in to the ground by rope and probably the highlight, ice tunnels. At the end of one ice tunnel was a smaller tunnel you had to go through head first and on your belly, a bit like a water slide which was hilarious as everytime someone had a go all you could hear was "whoa" followed by a thump and then a very wet and slightly bruised explorer would emerge the other end.

Definitely worth the money as the adventure and experience was fantastic.

This evening we took the drive up to Punakaiki on the west coast to our next resting spot. Another beauty of a hostel in the rainforest and right by the beach so we are looking forward to another day of exploration tomorrow.

Off to bed now!

Sam