Sunday 29th Jan

We were up early and checked out of the hostel to enable us to check into our morning adventure... a hike up the franz josef glacier. There were different types of hikes we could have chosen but we decided on the half day walk. We got geared up (they provided socks, boots, crampons, waterproof trousers, water proof jacket, wooly hat and gloves. lucky they did as i turned up in shorts and flip flops! We got a 10min bus to the car park and set off on our trek. there were 26 of us in our group consisting of all ages and sizes. Our tour guide rob seemed pretty cool and knowledgable which was good. He took us through the rainforest to the entrance where the valley opened up and we could see the glacier. It looked about 10mins away but turned out it was deceptive and was a 45-60min walk away! I thought all the illusions were meant to be at puzzling world! We set off walking with a couple of stops for some of the slower people and then got to hiking up the start of the mountain bit. After about 15mins one woman was really behind and when she coaght up rob had a word and she ended up going back, courtesy of another tour guide. We carried on for about 30mins and then stopped to attach our crampons as we were about to reach the ice! As always there was some chinese looking people in our group who didnt want to listen, howeever, rob wasnt having this and made them look stupid! HA! We then split into two groups, the faster and the slower. i wasnt bothered which i was to be in so i waited to see which had less numbers in, and just my luck, was the slower one!! We were given a new tour guide, jeff, from ireland. He was pretty cool too. We then walked on the glacier for around 90mins, going on different hand made steps up and down the ice. (there are people there all day ensureing that the tracks are safe and keeping the conditions in order. the guides all carry pick-axes with them incase they have to make or improve the steps, which ours did!) We then met up with the other, faster, group and went back to base to gice the clothes back and check out. it was a great morning and lots of fun and apparently we were extremly looky as it didnt rain and it always does!! (2/3 days apparently) As part of the price we paid for the hald day trek we also got free entry into the hot pools around the corner which we took full advantage of after the walk! The first pool we got into was 36degs, the next was 28degs and the 3rd was 40degs! They were pretty cool altho a little too hot at times! it was good to get in the 36degs one after the 40degs as it felt cold(er)!! From there we set off on our way to Punakaiki. It took around 3-4hours and is home of the pancake rocks. We checked in and chilled for a little bit. the hostel was right on the beach front which was good and it was a small hostel, holding only 25 at most! I then cooked us a spag bol and after that toni and i went on a romantic walk on the beach... ha not really, but we did go on the beach. the sunset was meant to be amazing but it was cloudy...never mind! An early night called us again as we were to be checked out by 10am and then hitting the road again...