Franz Josef

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We had a free morning in Barrytown to chill out so we headed to the beach to look for Greenstone (Jade) which is big business here. I found some nice stones but Dorit, a German friend of ours found some actual jade. We went to Hokitika which is packed with Jade factories before heading to Franz Josef, famous for the glacier. We had the afternoon free to relax. Today I booked onto the heli-hike which is a helicopter ride up onto the glacier followed by 2 hours hiking on the ice. Unfortunately it was cloudy in the morning so we had to put the flight back to the afternoon. It was still cloudy but at least got as far as the heicopter. They took us up to the glacier but they couldn't see the landing site through the cloud so we had to turn back. It was a shame but at least I got a cool heli ride for free! Made do with a dip in the spar pool in the afternoon.

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