Had a great hike this morning on the glacier, it was really amazing! It also doesn't look quite real when you see it as it is just a huge hunk of ice sitting in amongst a lot of trees and rainforest and a mountain. It looks almost superimposed or something like that, or something out of a film set!
Met a girl called Penny who was on the same bus as I was on the journey back from Abel Tasman National Park. She had been in Franz Josef the day before and did a helicopter ride around there and said it was really good. Expensive, but good. I did, for a fleeting moment, wish I had done one also, but no point lingering over what might have been....
I was originally going to walk on both glaciers, but Jasmine (who I met in Nelson) said that both glaciers are the same so there'd be no need to walk both. I had made up my mind before speaking to her that I would only walk on one (and Fox is meant to be quieter and you go in smaller groups) but it was nice to get that confirmed by someone else!

Only had about 45 minutes to an hour on the glacier so I wish we'd had more time, but it was still pretty cool. No pun intended (Alpa!!). We walked up loads and loads of steps through the rainforest (which was lush, lots of streams and waterfalls), and then finally got to the side of the glacier. It looked quite dirty which is apparently because of all the ash and dust that has blown over from the recent Australia bush fires!
Put on our crampons and had walking poles, though thankfully it wasn't cold enough for me to need gloves or about 20 layers of clothing!! It was quite slushy too, and we got to see a few canyons and holes that obviously went down a lot further than you would think. Anyone slipping down one of those (though they were quite narrow) probably wouldn't be seen again!
The ice isn't a clear colour, but has lots of blue hues and is obviously white. Little bits that get chipped off look lovely and clear, and it's funny looking at the ice and seeing all sorts of stones and pebbles caught in it and frozen wherever they dropped. There was also a large boulder that had dropped off from further up a couple of years ago, and another boulder a little further up that would probably fall down in a few months.
Whilst we were standing by the glacier, we could hear rocks or small boulders dropping down and bouncing off the glacier! Which was a little alarming at first, but our guide said it was perfectly normal and wasn't the glacier cracking or anything like that!

It also started raining as we were heading back to the bottom, which was a shame. Rain had been forecast for the day so I was glad that I did the morning hike instead of the afternoon one! Also, I was glad that I hadn't done the whole day hike as that takes about 6 or 7 hours and even though I wanted a bit more time on the ice, I didn't think I could have taken 3 hours or so on the ice! Nowhere to go to the loo either....unless you want your bum stuck to the ice!!

Unfortunately, it rained all afternoon so that put an end to my walk to Lake Matheson or Minniehaha or glowworms as I wouldn't have been able to see the lakes, let alone any nice views! b*****. I should have gone yesterday!!
However, having met Penny, we hung out for the afternoon with her friend Gareth (Welsh), and another girl called Amy (English). All three of them are on the Magic bus, and had been travelling together for the past day or so. Me, Penny, and Gareth slobbed out in the tv room and watched Groundhog Day in the end! I had hoped that the rain would stop, but it carried on and on and on. Perhaps you'll be happy to hear that :D
Had some dinner, and then thought we'd go to the local pub to see what that was like. As Fox township is only a couple of streets, it the pub was awful then we could always just come back to the hostel. The pub turned out to be quite a laugh and we met a few locals, who were very funny. Telling us they weren't just local hicks in wellies but were astronauts for NASA. Of course we believed them....

I'm off to Wanaka tomorrow morning (another bus, but one less bus journey to go after) and it just so happens that Penny and Gareth are going to be there too, so, we said we'd meet up again tonight though who knows what might happen. Penny and I are in the same hostel too, so it is very likely that we'll bump into one another. Apparently there's a funky cinema there as well so let's just hope they're not showing Groundhog Day!! :D

I haven't got any plans for Wanaka but there are some nice walks to do there, as well as some lake cruises, or I could even go skydiving again! Having had a look through my book, I could also do a scenic flight over the Southern Alps and has a 2 hours cruise over the Milford Sound. I did want to go to Milford Sound, but just haven't got enough time, so maybe this is a good option. However, it'll be just my luck that the flight takes off in the morning and so I'll have missed it as my bus doesn't get into Wanaka until 2:30pm. It's the only bus, so my only option! Ah well, I'm sure I can deal with a lake cruise or a nice walk around a lake instead. I get dropped off at the information site in Wanaka so I can find out from them what's available to do in the afternoon.