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Published: November 13th 2008
There was so much to try to cram into today as the sun was finally shining, so we started early. First we drove to Fox Glacier about half an hour away and walked to the face of the ice (well, as close as you can get without paying the Guiding Company to take you).
Next, we drove to the sky diving place nearby where Matt was booked in to do a sky dive. He’d decided that the scenery was so spectacular around the glaciers and if he was going to throw himself out of a plane he at least wanted a good view. There were only two of them going up. I was the official photographer for the day as there was no way I was going to jump out of a plane!
Matt and the Swedish girl, Carolina, got into their jump suits and had a brief safety talk, before being shown how to hold themselves when falling. Then after ten minutes they were in the plane and taking off!
One of the staff drove me down the road a few minutes later to the landing spot and I was able to film Matt coming down. At
one point they went into a spiral and it was difficult keeping up with the camera. Matt later told me the instructor had asked him if he liked roller coasters and when he’d said yes, the instructor had put them into a spin.
By the time Matt landed he looked a bit green and wasn’t smiling as much as I’d expected after such an achievement. It turned out the movement had made him motion sick and he felt terrible.
Still, he enjoyed the experience, especially the flight up over Fox Glacier. He said he never doubted for a second that he wanted to jump and didn’t feel nervous at all. He was also able to take his own camera on the jump so got plenty of amazing pictures, plus he bought the extortionately priced dvd, so he ended up with some great mementos of the day.
After that it was my turn so we headed back over to Franz so that I could go on a two hour horse trek. Matt dropped me off and then drove back to Franz Joseph Glacier to do some more of the walks.
I hopped onto Casper and went out
Fox Galcier
We weren't able to walk up to the terminal face this time. Luckily our camera had a good zoom.into the countryside with a guide and another couple. Although Casper was old, she was keen and constantly wanted to be in the lead. It was a perfect day for it as it was warm and sunny for once. We went through fields, along tracks and through lots of streams. The farm dog joined us and kept jumping and rolling in all of the rivers and chasing after the many rabbits we kept seeing.
I’d been thinking about taking up riding again and this made me more sure that I was going to do it. It was a beautifully relaxing afternoon in the sunshine, and the mountains provided a perfect backdrop to it all.
Matt got back to the farm early so that he could take some photos of us arriving, and he had the kettle on the boil ready for me so that I could have a well earned coffee before we drove off. I suspect my legs won’t work properly tomorrow after the variety of ice treks, hill walks and horse rides I’ve done.
We drove back to the motorpark for our third and final night there. The only other place we’ve stayed at for
more than one night is Auckland and that was only because Phil was there. We’ve really come to like this place - the village has a real buzz to it and the scenery is spectacular - you never get bored of the view as it is constantly changing with the weather.
Tonight was a chore night - washing, tidying, packing things away, sorting out leaflets etc. By ten thirty we were finally finished and were exhausted yet again.
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