Did I say good nights ' sleep? I should stop tempting fate. Phone went at 3.30am. It was Dad. So I'm like, what's the matter? He starts talking about rugby. I'm like, it's 3.30am Dad. He carries on talking, so I interrupt. Dad, it's 3.30am here and he's all surprised & says, I thought it was day there. No, I'm definitely the other side of the world and it's definitely 3.30am.

Didn't get much sleep after that, though through no fault of Dad's; I did drop off again, but they apparently don't believe in double glazing in this part of the world, so I got to hear some of the local drunks coming home & then all those having an early start. Never mind, I'm seemed to be destined to have alternate good and bad nights on this trip.

Got up and off to check in for my helicopter flight to find that we had the most glorious weather, all the cloud had broken and disappeared, no mist or fog and we had great visibility. My very first helicopter flight, I was sat up front with the pilot and I didn't even notice him take off. I admit to being a bit nervous, which is strange for me because I love to fly and am not bothered at all by turbulence or anything, but I think because the helicopter is so small and you are so exposed I was a little nervous. However, once we were airborne, I loved it! If I won the lottery, I would seriously think about learning to fly a helicopter, it was fantastic.

We went up the valley to the Franz Josef glacier, one of only 3 temperate glaciers in the world (that means they flow into temperate/tropical environs from their mountain peaks). The other one is the Fox glacier, in the next valley, while the third is in Argentina. You used to be able to walk up to the terminal face (where the glacier ends, to you & me) and climb up it, but as the glacier is retreating the face has become dangerous and rotten, so it is not safe and so the only way to access the glacier now is to fly on. So we flew up the valley and over the Franz Josef and saw Mt Cook and Mt Tasman as well and then over the ridge to the Fox Glacier in the next valley, where we touched down and got out for a walk around on the Glacier, which was my second "first" of the day. We were so lucky with the weather, it was a brilliant bright blue sky and wonderfully sunny, so it felt very pleasant, even though it was about 5 degrees on the glacier and you could see all the way down the outflow valley to the sea, seeing the huge path the glacier had carved for itself previously. I know for sure the photos won't even come close to doing it justice.

It was amazing to see the colours in the glacier, that really unique cold clear blue that you only see in ice and then areas where dust or dirt has come over on the wind and settled on the snow giving it a strange mottled look. You also get a great view of the shapes and crags formed by the movement of the ice. Calling it "a glacier" makes it sound like it is all of one piece, and in a way it is, but when you fly over it, you see all the crevasses and cracks and different shapes caused by the continual shifting and flowing and melting and refreezing of the ice that makes you realise that it is not really one entity, but an accumulation of similar entities all squished into one place.

All too soon our flight was over and I had time to kill for the quad biking in the afternoon, so I headed back to coffee shop again for some elevenses. Headed back to my room for a bit of a nap and then after, as I was still hungry, I hit one of the other cafes for lunch.

I had chosen to be a passenger on the quad biking, rather than a driver, partly because it was over NZ$100 cheaper, but also because, just for once, I wanted to be a passenger and to just admire the scenery without worrying if I'm about to come off the road. Also, those things looked very heavy and I've heard some horror stories! I definitely made the right choice, all of the others had sore arms and hands before the end of our trek, but it was good fun. Even though I wasn't driving, I really enjoyed it and most of the way round all our guide (who was my driver) could hear was me and one other girl giggling and whooping as we careened around. We went all around the area where the glacier had carved the river out to the sea, so lots of bumps and stones and some great windy tracks and a fair few splashes. Fortunately, they provide you with full kit (gumboots, full waterproofs & helmet) so even though I got well covered in mud; I was fine once I was hosed down at the end. Normally we would have been wetter, but the river is very low as they are officially in a drought situation at the moment, so we didn't get to cross the river and get seriously wet, despite being drizzled on virtually the whole way round. I would definitely do that again, and I think I'd even try driving in the future.

Weather closed in even further by the end of the trip, so thought I would read my book until dinner, but ended up falling asleep over it, so just had an early night.