Day 1

Thankfully we only had a short journey of 2 hours before we arrived in Franz Josef. Headed straight to the Glacier's Guides office to pay for our Full Day Hike- very excited as this was one of the highlights of NZ!! We then arrived at our hostel called Rainforest Retreat - it was a really nice place, staying in lodges very nice and relaxed, we even had a hot tub there!! :-) That night Steph and I cooked Spag Bol for everyone, which I might add was very nice and then we just headed to the bar to have a soft drink with Lauren and the other bus drivers who were having a night out! We all decided to have a quiet night as we had a tough 8hour walk the next day!! Early night to bed!

Day 2We woke bright and early again but we didn't mind as we were all excited as today was the day of the Glacier hike, all a little anxious if we'd be fit enough after months of holidaying! We headed into town to the Glacier office, got our waterproof jackets and pants, hats, gloves and boots and spikes and headed onto the bus up to the start of the glacier. We set off through the rainforest to find the glacier, it was unreal. After climbing ladders and over rocks etc we reached the bottom of the glacier and put our spikes (crampons) on and hit the ice! We climbed artificial steps out of ice, slid down some small passages and even had the chance of going in some ice caves. Was an amazing experience- Josh our guide was sick of us complaining (he promised us lunch for over two hours) but we know he loved it really - a group of young ladies! But then we found out he is only 19 so we felt a bit bad. After walking 5hours on the ice we were exhausted, not looking forward to another 40min walk through the rainforest again to get back. But we made it and yes I was the only one to fall, running stupidly and cut my knee, it did look quite impressive though! J. I can safely say this is up there with one of the best days i have had......it was so much fun! After our long day we all decided to get back to the hotel and head straight for the Hot Tub....it was lovely relaxing. After relaxing we went for a couple of drinks in our bar and had an early night ready for Wanaka the next day!