We arrived at Franz Josef in the afternoon, it is a glacier on the west coast. We had signed up for the full day hike the next day. Everyone was a bit knackered from the night before so most people had a nap or hung out in the hot tub!!!! Which we did.

The next morning it was an early start we started our hike at 9.30 it was an hour walk to the bottom of the ice, I dont think I really knew what I had signed up for I was knackered after this first bit. We had the full gear though rain coat, trousers, boots, socks and crampons very stylish. The first part was a bit scary getting used to walking on ice and watching where we were going. After a while though we both got into it but it was really hard work with steep steps and narrow gaps. One of the crevess we walked through was really narrow and we got stuck in a few places but luckily fat squash so we go out in one piece.

We had our lunch on the glacier looking out over the valley. It was a long day but really good. We walked to about 500 metres above sea level some of the other groups went higher but we took our time.

That night we had a an ealry night as we were so tired and had an early start the next day. Leaving Franz at 7.30 the next morning was a bit of a shock for our systems.

We drove to Wanaka which was a nice lttle town not far from Queens town our final destination with this group.

Wanaka was really nice it is a ski town in the winter but had a massive lake surrounded by mountains, our hostel had good views of this so it was nice to sit on the balcony having breakfast.