Advertisement
Published: December 15th 2009
Once we finally arrived at Franz Josef after quite a long journey with a stop en route to visit the pancake rocks (originally named; as they are rocks that look like rather unedible pancakes) we booked our full day glacier hikes. So we settled down for the night and watched a disney film 'Meet the Robinsons' (i think the Walt corporation must have been on severe hallucinogenics whilst making, but would recommend all the same - although i'm not sure everybody else in the room appreciated it as much as i did.)
The next day after dressing in about 10 layers we set off to do our full day Franz Josef glacier walk - one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world. After walking in a group of about 40 people for 20 minutes we reached the glacier, we then had to put our crampons on and split into 6 groups based on ability. As i was struggling to put on my crampons, Tom ran off and joined the fitter group so i was left with the less abled and under 10's. As we set off, i began to realise that this was possibly not the disaster i originally
thought it was and yes i may have the walking ability of an under 10 year old. It was EXTREMELY steep. After we hiked up the ice steps it began to level out a bit and actually became quite fun. We had to pause at times for the guide to cut out more ice steps, passed through ice caves, deep blue ice gorges, climbed down ropes and under ice arches. The ice in places was majestic and deep blue where it was frozen so hard. There was even an 'ice volcano' type thing in the middle - not as exciting as it may sound - it's where rock is forced out and up from underneath the glacier. We also saw Kea birds for the first time - which are beautiful but not to be underestimated as they have the intelligence of a three year old child and a penchant for anything rubber (which they will steal.) After a fairly exhilarating time going up the glacier and a weary walk/slip back down, we headed over to the hot pools and relaxed in 38 degree spa pools for an hour before packing up the bags for the morning drive over to Queenstown.
The next day we embarked on the 9 hour drive to Queenstown and had a crazy bus driver who crashed once (minor - but all the same), had an obsession for the phrase "sweet as...a chicken" and was generally alot of fun. She hosted quiz games the entire journey where we won teapots full of a cocktail if we won. As Tom and i were relatively miserable at winning we decided a spot of cheating was in order, so as we stopped to watch a guy do a rather apprehensive bungey (as in, he jumped and then leapt around mid-air trying to scrabble back onto the platform) we coerced the bungey staff into googling the answers for us - I think we won a shot, but we confessed to all.
After arriving in Queenstown the adventure capital of the world, we really didn't do any of the amazing activities on offer, as we were too poor, but we would definately love to come back slightly richer and do things like the canyon swing and maybe a bungy ... if i could find the courage. However we did do the the Milford Sounds cruise which is supposed to be
rated amongst the top 10 natural beauty sites in the world. The cruise itself took us through a beautiful gorge with mountains behind, past a waterfall higher than Niagra falls and out onto the open sea. It was unfortunately a beautiful day when we did it, but apparently when it rains the entire gorge becomes one big waterfall. My favourite part of the trip was actually the drive too and from Milford Sounds as again it was breathtaking with the mountainous scenery. Hopefully the pictures do it a tiny amount of justice.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.046s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0268s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mum
non-member comment
Wow!
Wow the south Island looks incredible - your Dad is going to be soooo jealous!! Hope Oz is living up to your expectations. Take care both, Mumx