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Published: August 9th 2007
Franz Josef Glacier
In all of its glory.We arrived in the very small town of Franz Josef at midday, and quickly established that there really is very little to do other than the 'glacier-related' activities! So during the afternoon, we managed to watch more TV than we have in 4 months and became pretty wrinkled in the lush hot tub! This was all perfect preparation for our full-day glacier hike the next day (with the exception of going to the pub for cheap beer and free weird shots in the evening with our the Magic Bus driver and fellow Magic passengers!!).
The next morning was absolutely perfect with gorgeous blue skies and a few white fluffy clouds - ideal for hiking on, in and around a glacier! We hiked in a groups of about 12 people and were led by super-fit Tom, who was armed with a pick-axe so that he could hack away at the ice to make steps or a path for us throughout the day. He turned our stomachs with many pick-axe and glacier-related horror stories. We had also been provided with much-needed talons (spikes) which strapped onto our shoes to stop us sliding to our deaths down the glacier! Despite this, a
Warning Shmarning
Never, ever pay attention to the signs. Ever. few people took some minor tumbles and one guy fell right into a deep icy puddle within the first half hour!! D'oh!
Exploring the glacier was an absolutely awesome experience. At times we had to literally squeeze through crevasses where the massive walls of ice each side of us meant we couldn't put one foot past the other. There were also a couple of tiny ice tunnels to crawl through, which was a bit too cosy for giants like us! But it was all worth it to see all the blue ice high up in the glacier and look down on the world from it.
We woke the next day with super-stiff legs, so once again had some quality recovery time in the hot-tub! Next stop, Wanaka.....
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