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Published: March 5th 2009
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I left Greymouth at 1:30pm and headed to Franz Joseph, along the way we crossed two single lane bridges which are both shared with trains, the second bridge was over 120 years old and made from wood so they were in the process of building a 4 lane bridge to replace it but that wasn't completed yet. A few hours into the journey we stopped in Hokitika for lunch. Hokitika holds an annual wild foods festival in late march and Chris asked me to go to it with him when i was in Christchurch but its not until late march and i wouldn't have been around to go to it. Whilst i was in Hokitika i went to their jade factory and watched them carve pendants and sculptures and saw some of the things they had previously made. Jade or Pounamu as its known by the Māori is a very important thing in New Zealand as it was used a lot by the Maori and is much harder and more unique than jade found elsewhere in the world, because of this New Zealand jade is very expensive. We left Hokitika and continued our journey only stopping at small towns to drop
of freight and newspapers, one of these towns was called Ross and was home to the famous (At least in New Zealand) Roddy Nugget which was a gold nugget that weighed 99oz! For years it had been used as a door stop at a local hotel until it was given to the Queen who had it melted down and made into jewellery and table wear!
I arrived at Franz Joseph at 5:30 and the coach dropped me right outside the hostel, after checking in and dumping my bags in my room i asked at the reception if there were any walks that i could do before dinner and more importantly before it got dark. The guy said there was one that i could do but i needed a torch and I'd get wet as it was a route that went through some old tunnels that were flooded and as it rained the water would be up to my waist. So i decided maybe that wasn't the best idea and instead made myself a nice hot chocolate and watched a movie on my laptop.
The next morning I woke up early and got ready to do what I'd come
to Franz Joseph to do, a Glacier tour. I went to the tour office which was just round the corner from the hostel and got given all my gear like boots, hat, gloves and Crampons which are spiky attachments to your boots that help you grip on the ice. Everyone got on a bus and we drove to the the car park near the glacier, from there we walked through a forest trail and past waterfalls, this walk in itself was tiring and quite challenging as we had to scramble over rocks and walk through rivers until we reached the base of the glacier. It was here that we put our crampons on and we were split into four groups the first 2 were for people who felt quite confident and could go at a quite fast pace whereas the two groups behind would follow at a slower pace along the tracks we had made. I was feeling pretty good so i went in one of the first groups and we headed up onto the glacier, the first part was pretty easy going as they had people out there cutting small steps and making tracks early on in the morning,
but further up our guide had to chip away small paths with his ice axe. As we progressed up the glacier we were squeezing through smaller gaps and going up & down steeper bits of ice, it was a beautifully sunny day and after a short while on the ice i was boiling so i took off some layers and wore shorts.
After several hours of hiking we stopped for lunch in the oddest place (see pictures) whilst our guide went ahead to make a path. After lunch we carried up along the glacier until we got to a point where the only way forward was along a small ledge submerged under water i watched as the people in front of me waded through one by one until it was my turn, i managed to get almost the whole length without the water getting in my boots until the very last bit where i slipped and had ice cold water up to the top of my thighs!!!! It wasn't pleasant to say the least and i spent the rest of the day with squelchy, water filled boots on though because of the nice weather i soon warmed up. All
along the glacier there was water flowing both above and below ground and at times you could hear water gushing by below you, there were also many holes that seemed bottomless and our guide who for obvious reasons didn't want us to go near them told us that some were up to 300m deep at points he also told us that 600,000 people visit the glacier every year and 30% of them choose to go onto the glacier without guides or proper equipment and he told us that there had recently been two people that had died there because they went on there own.
We headed back down the glacier after 8 hours of being on the ice and i was shattered but before i left i filled my bottle with fresh glacier water which was really good and didn't cost me £2 a bottle! I thought the best way to relax before heading back to the hostel was to stand under a waterfall at the bottom of the glacier!! As you could probably guess it wasn't the warmest shower i've ever had and no one except a German guy from our group fancied joining me but it was
good fun and its not like i get the chance to do that very often but then again its not very often you get to walk on a glacier either. After drying off as best i could i got on the bus and headed back to town where i handed all my gear back and had a warm shower back at the hostel. I know I must have used the word 'Amazing' too many times by now in my blogs but this experience truly was amazing and i am so glad i did it because there might not be a glacier left to climb in future years (That's the Greenpeace guy in me talking) The more I'm seeing of New Zealand the more I'm starting to think its the best place i've been so far both in the country itself and the awesome people i've met. Next I'm off to Queenstown which is the Adventure/Extreme sport centre of New Zealand.
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