Today our day started in a very surreal manner, a short drive from the lake we stopped off at a place called the bushman's centre. It was part museum, part zoo and was full of random signs, traps and possums. We watched a film about the introduction of mammals into New Zealand as originally there was only birds, and visited there resident deer. The guy who ran it was a real character and had printed out some complaints that people had wrote and his replies to them. They were absolutely hilarious and clearly some people didn't read the sign "Do not enter if you have no sense of humour". Overall a very insightful yet somewhat interesting portrayal on New Zealand's heritage.

We arrived to our township destination, Franz Josef, later that day and arranged our glacier hikes. The national park we were visiting encompasses two of the world's most famous glaciers; Fox glacier where the mints come from and Franz Josef, an 8 mile glacier amidst the rainforest. We booked a full day hike for the next day, which is the highest ascent you can do, so we got ready to wrap up warm for the next day.

In the morning, and one vest, two t-shirts and a jumper later, we were ready to head down to the base camp to get kitted out. We were provided with some hiking boots, waterproofs, hats, gloves and crampons to grip the ice. Four cool looking lads later and we were on our way to the base of the glacier called the terminal face. The trek started about 10 am and finished about 6 pm, so it was a long day to be out on the ice. Once we were on the glacier we were following, steps cut by pick axes and tracks between the walls of the glacier that led to beautiful ice blue ponds and melted through tunnels.

At the end of the day we thought we needed some rejuvenation time so we headed to the hot glacier pools where we almost couldn't leave we were so relaxed. We spent the hours in alkaline and acidic based mineral water pools, which work wonders on tired muscles and achy bones. We even managed to work the old English charm and get a cheeky discount too, that was practice from our time in Thailand.

The day quickly got promoted as one of our "best days", as it was action packed and full of laughs. It was topped off with a great night with the lads including bundles of banter, a minor involvement with a possum and a quick fire round of character assassination. Sorry guys, if only you were here to share all these private jokes!

Adam & Adam