Amazing Franz Josef..

After driving 8 hours from Kaikoura and arriving in the pitch black we had no idea of our surroundings at the campsite. All we knew is that it was alot colder and they had had a small earthquake the night before so we felt a little aftershock which was quite exciting! Waking up to see the glacier in the distance was amazing, we were planning to spend the day climbing and exploring it!!

Took ages to get all the gear on ready to attempt our glacier walk, they ended up giving us too many clothes ... as it was a lovely sunny day it ended up being roasting climbing the glacier for over 2 hours. Its amazing as the glacier has retreated by over 2km since 2008, once you get on it its full of rock and very large, deep crevices where you definately would not want to fall through! To make us feel even more safe, our tour guide had recently been in trouble with the touring company for putting the hikers in dangerous situations.... and he hadnt been on the glacier for 4 weeks and got us a bit lost sometimes! There were a few options to climb through extremely small gaps in the ice and slide down parts of the glacier - at times lots of fun but also really scary!!

The day was amazing and it was something really different, it makes you feel extremely small in comparison! Completely zonked at the end our 8 hour tour but luckily the glacier walk price included free entry in to a spa in the town centre, we were thinking since it was free that it wouldnt be anything special, but it was 5 stars in our eyes! We were given a private cabana and private spa too so it was a bit luxurious for us, heated floors and everything!!!!

Next stop Queenstown further south and colder!