17th January 2011

We arrived in Franz Josef in the late afternoon after having left Barrytown at about 12.45. We are staying at a nice place called the Rainforest Motel which has a free hot tub and $12 meal deal (not that I did that - even though they had spag bol). I am sharing a dorm with Jon, Nina, Jeanette and Isi. The rooms are nice and clean and a decent size with french windows.

Tonight they had a competition in the bar at the hostel to win some bungy jump experiences with AJ Hackett including NZ's highest bungy (and the world's 3rd highest) of 134m over the Nevis Canyon. They had teams of couples and one had to one across the bar attached to a bungy rope, grab a drink and take it back to their partner where they had to down it and put the empty container on their head in the fastest time! One team off our bus did quite well and won $50 off a bungy or canyon swing.

Early night for me as very tired!

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18th January 2011

Today I was meant to be doing a heli-hike to the top of the Franz Josef glacier but it was cancelled due to bad weather :o( The full day hikes were cancelled too and only the half days were running. This was due to the fact that there was meant to be 150mm of rainfall today and it would have been unsafe. It's a shame but some of us are hoping to do it tomorrow instead if we can get the bus to stay. We are currently on 2 separate buses as our group is so big so it would be ideal if we could get the small bus to stay to take us later in the afternoon so the big bus could leave as normal in the morning.

My sand fly bites are driving me CRAZY. They have gone from red lumps, to oozing pus to big circular scabs :o( but however they look they are SO ITCHY!! I want to scratch my foot off! It's my right leg and foot that are the worst :o(

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19th January 2011

Today I had booked myself on a 12pm heli-hike but also a 9.15am full day hike in case the heli-hikes weren't going. I got up early and got to the office for 9am, where the man behind the counter told me that the heli-hikes were running fine so I cancelled my full day hike and went to a cafe to kill some time before my 11.15am check-in. So, after a 2 hour wait I went back for check-in only to be told that the heli-hikes weren't running due to adverse weather conditions :o( Luckily, they had space on the 12.30pm half day hike so I signed up for that instead. I was disappointed about not being able to go in a helicopter but happy that I could do something at least.

So I had another wait. I went to the shop and bought a NZ badge for bear to wear on his Guernsey. He loves it and wears it with pride.

When I got back I signed in, got briefed and went through to be kitted out for my socks, boots, trousers and jacket. Oh, and crampons! The group jumped on a bus and they took us to the car park at the start of the walk to the 'terminal face' - or the bottom of the glacier to you and me! It was a 15 minute walk through the forest to get to the valley and then a 45 minutes walk through the valley to the terminal face although it didn't look that far at all!

Once we got to the bottom of the glacier we got split into smaller group and began our ascent. It was such hard work! First we had to climb a big rocky hill and the stop to put our crampons on before we got onto the ice. The man at the office had given me the wrong size so our guide, Bex, had to change them for me. Luckily she had some spare parts with her! Once we got onto the ice it was amazing. It involved a lot of climbing but was so cool (haha, see what I did there?). We reached a plateau and had some photos and a wander around before starting the descent and the crazy long walks back to the car park. Bex told us that in some places, the ice is 300m thick!

There are parrots that live on the ice called Kea's and they are only found on the South Island of New Zealand. They are beautiful birds with bright red feathers under their wings. They are also very clever and will open your bag and steal your lunch!

We got back to the hostel, grabbed a quick shower and headed off on the bus to Makarora. Only took 3 and a half hours so we made good time!

It was a fantastic day but very tiring so off to bed for me :o)

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