The Day I Conquered the Glacier

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First stop to cure those hangover blues was the Bushmans Centre. This is where we witnessed one of the most hilarious videos i have ever seen! "The Last Great Adventure" is about those "brave" men who fought against a common enemy, the deer, who were rampaging freely across the New Zealand highlands and then went on to catch them in order to farm the poor buggers!

Afterwards we had breakfast at the cafe. Here they had a "headlight delight" pie that i just had to eat. Possums are also a "common enemy" and destroy native bush, therefore they are hunted and a regularly squished on the road. You guessed it, headlight delight, is Possum Pie.

We cruised on through pretty much straight, without many detours to Franz Joesf. We did stop at various points along the way with fantastic views of the coast. As we grew closer to the mountains that lock Franz Josef the weather became overcast creating a really dramatic and moody scene with the mountains shrouded in mist.

Once checked in to the YHA we tried to gather some lunch stuffs, but the kitchen was shut, this is a stroke of genius, at lunch time...so we went for a wander. We were back within ten minutes. Franz Josef is pretty small. Two roads infact.

As we were eating dinner Somer and Seb rounded thr corner and sat down for a catch up. They would be on our bus on to Wanaka from Franz Josef. They went to put some photos on the net while we headed to the bar for cheap happy hour booze.

We didn't get too much of a late night because we had a Full Day Hike on the Glacier tomorrow and had to be at the base by 9am.

We arrived and checked in and nearly straight away kitted and booted. We were given boots, socks, crampons, bright blue coats, hats and gloves. We already had a enough sandwiches and chocolate to sink a battle ship...

We drove the the car park in a two bus convey and from there all 60 people on the full day hike continued on foot to the valley. From there we split into three groups, then on reaching the foot of the glacier split in two again. The idea being group 1 would sprint round while group 6 would amble. We were in group 3.

It was difficult at first walking on the ice but once we put trust in our crampons we were fine. Theoretically its nigh on impossible to slip while wearing crampons. About half way up we picked up ice axes for the trickier part we were about to hit. This consisted of ridges and gullies and we were constantly going up and down.

We broke for ten minutes to scoff lunch but were then right back on it. I have to be honest, the ice formations and the blue ice were stunning! Never seen anything like it, and it was quite a shame to leave. We climbed through some gullies no more than a foot and a half wide and then up into caves as the only way out. It was a bloody good adventure.

We climbed in the hot tub with the rest of the people off the bus. Most were nursing blisters and acheing feet and legs but i can proudly say my legs stood the test and my feet are tough as old boots anyway. I have walked around most of NZ barefoot anyway.

After a quick feed we were back with the guys for a few well earned pints. We splashed out and bought beer that didn't taste of piss and ink, at least we had one and then drank piss and ink. Towards the end of the night i was getting tired but a local grabbed me and through his slurring tongue he wanted to play pool. I obliged, and after beating him his mate came up and tried his luck. Again i beat him and the two of them came back with a pint each and a pint each for me. Then another bloke, another game, another pint. Then Mat had a go, and bought me a pint. Not bad i thought. Cheap night!

Peace Out.

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