First thing on Monday morning, we managed to have a look around the shops in Greymouth as they were now open.  It only took 10 minutes and then we were out of there!

5 hours later, we arrived at Franz Josef.  We had a lovely little room complete with ensuite, kitchenette and TV.  We also only had to share with two people.  We felt spoilt.  We quickly had a look around but as this was a small town, it didnt take long either.  It was a very pretty town though. 

On Tuesday morning, we were up early and checked in by 9.15am ready for our hike up the Franz Josef Glacier.  They kitted us out with waterproof jacket and trousers, gloves, hat, thick socks and big heavy boots.  When arriving at the national park, we had a 45 minute route march to the bottom of the glacier.  It was at this point we realised how heavy our boots were and wondered if we should have done the half day hike instead of the full day hike (8 hours).  At the bottom, we were shown how to attach our ice picks to our boots and we were then off.

 The first part was quite steep and tiring as you climb up the pre made ice steps.  We opted to go in group 4, the slower of the groups as we didn't consider ourselves experienced hikers.  We were glad we picked this group as we still moved at a fast speed.  6 hours later we were at our highest point and the views of the valley were amazing.  The higher up we got, the whiter the ice became.  We also got to climb through the ice caves and squeeze in between cracks.  Our route also crossed large cracks in the ground which were a bit scary stepping over but we were in safe hands.  We also had to do a bit of ice climbing which was tiring.  It didn't help that when we were on the glacier, one of the guides of another group broke his leg and had to be air lifted out.  When it was time to come down, we had to move pretty quickly and it would be then that Krisha's left pick kept coming off.  When we reached the bottom of the glacier and taken the picks off, we realised how shattered we were and forgotten that we still had the long walk back to the bus.  The first thing Marie done on the ground after an 8 hour hike on the ice, was trip over a rock and go flat on her face.  How embarassing. 

When we arrived back at the hostel we quickly got changed and jumped into the hot bubbly spa outside.  It was great for them aching muscles.  We were quite happy laying there relaxing with the spa to ourselves when a guy decided to join us.  He was only being friendly but we were to tired to hold a proper conversation.  It was a very early night for us.

On Wednesday, we moved onto Wanaka.  This was a pretty little town by the lake.  By the time we got there, we didn't have chance to do a lot.  On Thursday morning we had a look around the shops and then spent the afternoon sunbathing beside the lake.  It was very peaceful.  We also visited Puzzling World that had lots of illusions and a giant maze that we attempted but got bored of. 

On Friday, we took the 2 hour drive to Queenstown the adventure and party capital of New Zealand.  We spent most of the day looking around the shops, there are lots here which is good.  We also took a stroll beside the lake.  First night in Queenstown we thought we should check out the legendary night life.  We had a bottle of wine at the hostel before setting of about 9pm in search of happy hours.  We ended up at an English pub, The Pig and Whistle which was good and had a live band.  We ended up going to about 5 different bars and drank too much wine.  Its quite good because everyone seems to dress casually so we didn't fell out of place without our stilletos.  We had a good night but this morning was not good.  Marie woke at 8.30am and sat there for nearly 3 hours feeling very sorry for herself (Marie - I know I've said it before, but I'm never drinking that much wine again!!).  

When we finally got dressed and was feeling a lot better, we took the Gondala (cable car) up the mountain to watch people doing bungy jumps.  While up there we also decided to try out the Luge (go karts that roll down hill - no engines).  To reach the start, you have to go on a ski lift which decided to stop mid air.  This panicked Krisha greatly as we were quite high up.  krisha sped off around the track while Marie was very slow - even the little 8 year olds were overtaking.  We watched a couple of bungy jumpers and we think they are crazy.  After coming down, we decided to check out one of the other bungy sites (a bigger one across a river).  It was quite amusing watching people but something that we do not want to participate in.

As we are still feeling a bit sorry for ourselves, we're off to Pizzahut tonight.  Hope you enjoy the latest pics.  Congratulations Sean on passing your exams.  Very proud of you. x x x