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Published: January 3rd 2009
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Hi all,
Aren't I spoiling you all with another journal oh so soon!! :-D (started typing this on 22nd Dec...sorry for the delay in only publishing it today...4th Jan :-D)
Hope you are all coping with the mad rush of Christmas at home! It is not Christmas here, no rush, no sub-zero temperatures and it doesnt even get dark to see the lights!! I'm looking forward to getting to Jayns and hopefully she'll have a tree up. Is sort of nice not having to worry but do miss it, it'll make next year extra special. Bought the turkey today, sliced from the deli counter1 Haha! Preped for our sarnies, or might even treat ourselves to baps. Haha! Fingers crossed for sun so we can luonge on the beach...New Zealand's weather is up to all sorts! Summer did begin on 1st Dec but think only recently i have seen it!
Ok so an update on our aventures, yesterday we did the Glacier Hike in Franz Josef. Dan booked a half day trip, not too heavy going and half the price but was exactly what we wanted. Moderate, 2 hours ice time and only a 5 hour excursion in total.
Perfect. They adviced that we wore/took 2-4 layers of clothing and they provided pretty much everything else; boots, socks, waterproof jackets, over trousers, hats, gloves, etc! So we were all prepared with a drink and light snack in our backpack...along with the camera, backup batteries and a spare 1meg memory stick! haha! the snap happy queen has to be prepared! i am trying to calm down, no photos today!!
We checked in at 1230pm at the office in Franz Josef village, got kitted up...only needed the boots, socks and waterproof jackets as the sun was out. They called the previous days trips off due to very heavy rainfall, that was a stroke of luck (or was it?! haha kidding). Got our crampons too, get given a bag according to size of boot, makes sense ey? Crampons are spikes you attach to your boots for walking/hiking/climbing on the ice. Jumped on the bus and we were off 10 mins down the road. It's advised that you dont venture onto the glacier without a guide. We started along the public footpath and then onto a small side track...like the ones u see on walks and think ah that's obviously not the right way, might be a tricky path or a bit dangerous...well as we ventured on the skinny path through the rain forest we clambered through to get to the valley floor....the glacier has been there for at least 20,000 years but has been gradually moving back...it used to fill up the valley but not any more. We walked over a few rocks, no big deal, through some streams, no big deal in the waterproof boots. And then split into 2 groups as we were a group of 52! We went in the less experienced half rather than the 'keen, all the gear no idea(!) (haha) group.' We proceeded along the valley floor but there is now a very fast flowing river running through the valley which cut off our route to the glacier, we had to cut up through the side of the valley, across and then back down to the other side of the valley floor. This was the 1st challenge, clambering up through the trees and through water running down the side of the valley, there was no path just fought our way through. Once the other side we split the groups in half again....after the valley trek we opted for group 4!!!! Yup the bottom group, poor Dan! I dragged him down to my level! Haha! Then it came to putting on the crampons.....all went fine, watched how to strap them on...Dan's on the other hand looked rather perculiar! Ty our guide (half Japanese, half Kiwi...tricky to understand!) took a second look at Dan's crampons....he had a size 8 boot with size 5 crampons! Doh! No worries though he adjusted them and Dan had to put them on again and felt like a first class idiot. Anyway once Dan was ready we were off...sort of missed the safety talk but the main things were always hold onto the rope and walk like a cowboy! Ok. The groups before us had left and we waited until the ice steps were clear for us to start the climb on the glacier.....interesting! Going up on the steps with the rope, not too bad....made our way up, up, up and then it came to more rocks....we went diagonal and up...not too bad going up the rocks...and then we got to the main part of the glacier and were very high....we got to the main part (the furthest we could get to) and it was incredible! Blue ice and even a little tunnel that had formed, we threw ice down the crevices to hear out for when they hit the bottom to see how deep the crevices were....very deep!
It was the way down that was the killer, the steps were now a mush being the last group and sometimes there would be no rope!!!!! The boots had started rubbing and Dan was wanting a pair of ear plugs!!! I just wanted to get down, I have no balance! Jo, Chez and Gamer can vouch for that.....ice skating in Central Park, but it has to be done doesnt it! Poor Chezzy, I was holding on to her for dear life and bought her down with me! SO yeh not good on my feet! Lol. It was just, im gonna get through this, slipping and sliding everywhere, back through the valley, through the streams but did survive and looking back it was an awesome thing to do but i paid 100 bucks for a 5 1/2 hour hike of agony! Lol! Anyways moving on glad we did it :-)
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