It was a lovely day when we drove from Wanaka to our next destination Franz Josef, and we were a bit disappointed as its typical when you're just driving around that the weather's nice and sunny! Franz Josef is a very small town on the west side of the South island and is home to New Zealand's two ice glaciers, the Franz Josef glacier and the Fox Glacier about 2o minutes down the road. We decided to stay at the YHA Hostel again as we are now members and get a bit of a discount! When we arrived we had a little walk around the town which was very small but nice, and also had a watch of the ice wall that they have here which you can pay to have a climb of in the town centre. After talking to the receptionist and a few other guests we decided we would book the full day glacier walk at the Fox Glacier because the Fox glacier is a little quieter than the Franz Josef Glacier and slightly cheaper!

The next day we were up bright and early at 7:00am and made our way to the Fox Glacier centre. There were 10 people in our tour which wasn't too bad and after a short talk with our guide we got kitted out in hiking boots, crampons (which are sharp ice pick type metal studs that go on the bottom of your boots), raincoats and fleeces! Our guide drove us all in an old style bus to the bottom of the glacier which was only 10 minutes way. The glacier looked really close and I thought it would only take us half an hour before we were on the glacier and walking about, but as usual I underestimated what I was letting myself in for! Yet again we started the day with a trek through a rainforest/jungle type area! After about 10 minutes the guide then told us the next part of the trek would include 600 steps up to the glacier! This doesn't sound easy and it wasn't, luckily the guide did frequent rest stops but I was still knackered before we even got to the glacier walking part of the day!

When we finally got to the glacier we had another rest and put on our crampons and my trendy huge borrowed purple fleece. We had to tuck our trousers into our socks which made us look like proper trekkers! It felt a bit strange at first walking on the thick ice with the crampons on, but after a while we started getting used to the feel of them and how to dig them in the ice. We followed a track at first which is where the half day walks go to but then we went off the track and our guide started finding us great places to explore and look at. The guide had to make pathways in the ice for us with a big pick axe which sometimes took a while and some parts we had to walk across or climb over looked a bit precarious! He took us to an underground ice cave which was quite hard to get in and a bit claustrophobic for some people but was really cool! We took half an hour out on the glacier to have our packed lunch which was enough time as it was pretty cold and then we had to use the toilet glacier style (behind a rock although we did have a men and women's room!)

After lunch we set out to carry on our glacier walk and managed to get right to the edge of the glacier. We then looked at some other ice features within the glacier such as the huge crevasses between the ice which you have to be careful of and also the huge holes that go down so far in to the ground.

After spending 4 hours on the glacier it was time to make the hard journey back to the bus! Another 600 steps and a trek back to the bus and we were back a little worse for wear. We got back to the hostel around 6:00 and rested with a nice bottle of well deserved red wine before getting an early night.

The next day we left Franz Josef for the town of Greymouth on the West Coast.

Greymouth is a pretty small town and its main attraction is the Shantytown which has a replica town of a 19th century gold rush village. We arrived in Greymouth in the afternoon and it was a lovely day. The hostel was one of the best we have been to in New Zealand! It had great rooms with an African style theme to the hostel. It even had a small gym, Sauna and hot tub with free mountain bikes and canoes to use! The hostel owner gave us a map of the area and we decided to make the most out of the weather and free bike hire and go on a bike ride. We went to a great vintage style café on the way and got some lunch then went to the beach area were we got to see a great sunset over the sea!

The next day we were going to use the kayaks but it was pouring down so we stayed in for a while then decided to watch a local rugby match that was on down the road. It was North Otago VS West Coast but West Coast got beat in the end much to the dismay of the locals! Afterwards we went to the Shantytown which was a great little replica town. It had everything that the old town would have had in the 1800's and even had a fire station with old fire engines and breathing apparatus. All the shops and houses were fully furnished with all the old furniture and antiques. We even got to do some gold panning which I loved doing. The water and stones were from the river that runs alongside the town and we both ended up with some small flakes of gold to keep as a souvenir! We then went back to the hostel to chill out before deciding to go and watch a hypnotist that was on at the local theatre.

The theatre was only half full but there were probably a couple of hundred people there. The Hypnotist first asked for volunteers and not a single person got up! After about ten minutes it was getting a bit stupid as no one was volunteering to get up, and the hypnotist said it was the first time that had happened to him at a theatre show! After a while longer a few guys got up then a few more until there were about ten men and no women up on the stage! We both vowed before the show we defiantly weren't getting up on stage but after a while with no one else volunteering I thought why not! I was quite intrigued to see if I could be hypnotized or not, so I found myself slowly walking towards the stage. When I got up on stage there were around 10 other women which I was glad about. There were about 10 people sat on chairs and about 12 of us stood up behind the chairs. The first task was to clasp your hands together tightly, putting your thumbs crossed in front of you, then close your eyes and listen to the hypnotist who talks saying things like "your hands our getting tighter together" and "there glued together now" etc. While I was doing this I started feeling a bit hot and bothered, then I started feeling a bit dizzy. The next thing I knew I had fainted on stage in front of most of the town of Greymouth! I couldn't believe I had actually fainted on the stage. The hypnotist and other volunteers rushed over and sat me down while I removed my scarf and tried to cool down. Then the show carried on with me sat in the background. I closed my eyes anyway for a while as I was feeling pretty weak and tired and found myself feeling like a was getting hypnotized. I felt pretty relaxed but in my mind I was thinking that I was going to get back to Ady in a minute as I had just fainted on stage! The next thing a knew a backstage guy was moving my chair to the chairs at the front of the stage as he must of thought I was one of the volunteers that was staying!

I carried on closing my eyes anyway and letting myself go into a light sleep then the next thing a knew I was pretending to ride a mountain bike in a race, dancing in a nightclub, using my finger as an eye etc! I could hear everyone laughing but at the time I was really serious and thought why is everyone laughing it's not that funny me riding a bike!

After a while there was an interval and after using my finger as a eye to find my way around to the kiosk I really didn't feel too good so I told the hypnotist I wanted to sit back in the audience. He tried to get me to stay but I said I didn't want to really and he sort of unhypnotised me back to normal! I was defiantly glad I didn't stay as the second half was a lot naughtier than the first half! It was quite good that I got to take part and see the show although I'm still not 100% sure I was hypnotized as It didn't feel like I thought it would, although I know I must have been!

The next day we left Greymouth and set off for Nelson in the north. After about 3 hours we stopped at a tiny town at a local café. We sat down on a table and two men came over to us and said "are you that girl from the hypnotist show last night!" we couldn't believe after a 3 hour drive someone would be in a café and have seen the show! I'm a local celebrity in the town of Greymouth now! They also advised us to change our plans and visit the golden Bay area before Nelson as there are some beautiful sights to see so we ended up on our way to a town called Takaka.