Day 6 Cont. - Icy trek

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made it from fox glacier in one piece. we couldn't get on the full day hike -- it was, well, full. so we bummed around town for a couple of hours and went out to lake matheson to kill time. we managed to book ourselves for the afternoon half-day hike. thankfully the weather held up and we took in some spectacular views. apparently some of the scenes from "lord of the rings" were shot at both franz josef and fox glaciers. you can tell why they chose those locations. it's quite breathtaking to be up on the ice. aside from some scary heights and cravasses, we had a great time. our guide, pesssang, was a nepalese sherpa that works over here for six months of the year. the rest of the time he works over at mt. everest. i think he'd rather be back home than dealing with a bunch of tourists that don't know the first thing about mountaineering, but he was pleasant and was willing to take us off the beaten track.

oh, and i almost hit another bird today. i don't know what it is about the feathered creatures here, but they seem to like taking off right next to the highway....

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