Day 149, 150 - Franz Josef & the Glaciers, South Island - Tuesday 13th, Wednesday 14th March 2012

After breakie we drove for a couple of hours until we reached the town of Franz Josef. Once there, we went to the visitors centre and booked glacier climb for the next day. With a day to kill we decided to drive to the neighbouring local town and did an hour walk / climb that took us up to a point that had 360 views over the area. The sun was out and the sky clear and it made was great viewing - in the distance we could see the snow-capped mountains where the glacier was.

After, we drove back into Franz Josef and went to a little coffee shop that served the most amazing brie and chicken filo pastry that was accompanied by a cranberry sauce and washed down by an iced mochochino frappe - so bad, but oh so good!

With an early start ahead of us we headed to the neighbouring towns little campsite and had some dinner before reading our books and heading to bed.

Today was glacier climb day! We were in for an 8 hour trek through and across Franz Josef's glacier - the steepest commercial glacier climb in the world! We arrived in the centre and were both kitted up with the gear - waterproof jacket, waterproof over trousers, hat and gloves, thick socks and hiking boots and last, but not least, a groovy red bumbag containing our crampons.

When we arrived at the glacier region everyone was split into groups and ours consisted of our guide Becky, from the UK, and about 12 other people. We started our walk from the base of the glacier, which is called the terminal face, and within an hour it was time to fit on our crampons - they are strange spiky things that attach to your boots so you can grip onto the ice. The first part of the climb took us over dead ice - this is made up of lots of chunks of ice that have been left behind when the glacier has retreated over time. Along the way, our guide Bec's had to keep cutting out chunks of ice and stairs for us to walk on and as we made our way over these and up steep boulders of ice with the use of a rope, we finally got to where the blue ice sat. It was great fun jumping over the crevasses and playing about with the pick axe in the snow! We even found a cave and all went in to have a look around and take pictures. Ad even decided to have a go at drinking the melting ice from the cave entrance! Before we knew it, it was time for lunch and so we sat down and ate it overlooking the bottom of the glacier and the valley below. Whilst eating lunch we watched as a group of lads got naked for some pictures in the snow!

With lunch done we started our final ascent to the top of the glacier; as we progressed the ice and formations got better and better until finally we were as high up as we could go. The views were great and a cloud hugged onto the top of the adjoining mountain which gave the whole place an eerie feeling. To add to this helicopters were flying in and out of the clouds just above our heads, dropping off the rich tourist who get flown in and walk around for an hour before being flown back out again (sorry D & N!!). With loads of pictures taken we started our descent - it was much quicker and within just over two hours we were down again and in the van heading back to the town.

Back in town, we treated ourselves to some more filo pastry's from the coffee shop and a hot chocolate to try and warm ourselves up a bit. We then headed over to the glacier hot pools - the ticket for which was included in our trek.

The hot pools were simmering hot and a welcome relief after being in the ice all day. There were three pools - one at 36 degrees, one at 38 and the last at 40! We didn't last long in the very hot one but the middle pool was just right (just like goldilocks!) and so we spent a few hours in there chatting and relaxing.

With the hot pools and shower done, we drove for an hour before we found a little campsite to settle down for the night.