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Published: February 27th 2007
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Ok so left Christchurch and jumped on the Trans Alpine train across from Christchurch to Greymouth and it was such a stunning journey. It would be great to see the contrast of the mountains in winter aswell- maybe the next trip!!. It took about 4 hours but was well worth it. We finally arrived in Greymouth to glorious sunshine. Most people then get on a coach down to Franz Josef Glacier but our trip said that we should go to Barrytown.
I checked with the driver that we were getting on the correct bus and asked him whether he would drop us off in the town centre and he just laughed.... now i know why. When he stopped outside this tavern he joked about the fact that we had to get off quickly before the place dissappeard. I swear it is Barry's Town as there must only be about 3 people living in the whole place. The town consists of a tavern which doubles up as accomodation (we stayed in a corrugated iron shed with bunk beds) a cafe about a 15 min walk back down this dual carriageway, a beach and apparently they do bone carvings and knife making
somewhere. To say the least there is really nothing to do but thank goodness it was only for one night. We did find some hike which we did in flip flops and then took a walk down to the beach and then to extend happy hour at the bar everyone had to dress up... now i am not 19 anymore so I retired to the study to read some Dickens novels..!! 😊
The next day we evacuated at about 12 and headed down to Franz where it was absolutely lashing down. The hostel was literally in the middle of the rainforest and there is about 6 shops. We woke up at 6am in the morning to start our 3/4 day Glacier Hike of Franz. We got kitted up in a rain jacket, over trousers, hat, gloves, boots and spikes to fix onto the bottom.
So after a 10 min drive out on the bus we arrived at the foot of the rainforest which we had to walk through to actually get towards the glacier- after about an hour we finally arrived at the glacier and attached the spikes onto the boots and started our climb. The guide walks
in front with a pick axe and literally hacks away at the glacier to make 'steps' to walk in..oh and it is best to be sure footed so the spikes dig into the ice... It can be quite steep at times and to be honest the steps aren't really steps but we headed into caves and ice tunnels which were ace.
Kel, James and i trundled up the rear of the group (I was at the front of Kel and James- the fine detail will become clear in a min) and i was fine until i slipped once and ended up on my arse next to a 4 metre fall- nice... and then everyone else e.g about 10 people in front of me managed to avoid the patch of thin ice which I 'sure footedly' stomped on and my whole bloody leg went through which then formed a bloody stream, with kel holding onto my back pack on my back- my whole leg was soaked. i was just bloody lucky the whole lot didn't go with me.... oh and then i managed to fall in the stream on the way back... however it was a good day, just a
bit wet, great views and another fact for the day- there are only 3 places in the world where the rainforest meets glaciers (2 in NZ Franz and Fox and the other is in Argentina)- look at me the knowledgeable one) and i can tick that off one of the things to do list!!!
We have lost our itinerary for the journey so we didn't really have any idea of what was in store for us today. So we jumped on a coach via Fox Glacier (i reckon that's where they got the name for those mints 😊) and then stopped off at some other places which were stunning. I have to say i think we have all become a bit complacent now- oh look there's another waterfall or another mountain- you start taking it all for granted. Anyway we are now in the middle of nowhere (Makarora) and apparently the 'Narnia' cast were supposed to be staying here tonight but are staying up the road instead- that shows how remote we are.
Anyway got to dash think it's karaoke tonight and i need to start doing my scales and I' getting eaten alive by sandflies.
Miss you all
Cx
ps: Photos of glacier trekking to come
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Katherine
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Hello sweet. You don't change do you? Always getting into one scrape or another. I've just caught up on all your entries in one go - and have been laughing out loud (my team are giving me odd looks). Take good care - and have fun in Queenstown. xx