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Published: January 30th 2009
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Mirror Lakes
Mount Cook reflected in the mirror lakes Another belated update! ARGH!
As you may have gathered now the South Island often seems completely desolate in comparison to the North, with total lack of reception anywhere other than the 'hub' towns (think Te Anau, Invercargill, Queenstown etc) which are seperated by mass expanses of beautifully empty, dramatic bushland. 1/3 of the entire population of NZ live in the South Island, which is almost twice as big as the North. When you consider that more people live in Auckland than they do in the South Island, you can understand how 'frontierland' this stage of the adventure is!
Anyway - time to continue from where I left off and hopefully update without boring you to death, dear readers!
We left for the Franz Josef Glacier early in the morning, giving ourselves enough time to have a couple of slices of toast and a pop into the shop for extra supplies before heading out!
We weren't waiting long to load up and soon we were all decked out in the full gear - thick jackets, chunky walking boots, heavy duty socks, a bag for our crampons and a set of hat and gloves to pack in. Applying sunscreen,
Trekking to the Glacier
The groups head for the ice! we were bundled into the back of a bus and marched for about 45 minutes to the base of the national park, where we were seperated into degrees of confidence and ability - groups 1 - 6. Deciding group 3 would be about right, I stood among the other people who thought the same and we were marched for another hour and a half to the foot of the glacier.
The Franz Josef glacier itself stretches for about 6km, and we were told that we'd be going about 3km along, to a ridge high above us. Now that's 3km as the crow flies, which meant we were in for a bracing walk! Crampons on, we headed up into the ice, me, AJ and Ryan forming our little brotherhood of looking out for each other, which came in handy when one of my crampons imploded! With that reattached we headed further up, out of the dirty, stone ruined ice and into the beautiful blue ice that you would expect to see on a glacier walk! All at once it was freezing and boiling hot, and I was glad that I'd opted to wear shorts, even though the sight of me
Warning
A typically Kiwi polite notice wearing a thick heavy coat, two layers...and shorts...lent quite an amusing picture!
We wandered through the ice with our guide, Bryce, for a good 3 1/2 hours before crashing down in a ravine for lunch. Such an odd experience! Post lunch, we struggled for the summit and found ourselves squeezing through a tight ice cave, climbing on a soaking wet, cold rope, cutting my knee open in the process. It was worth it though - the view from the top was incredible! We'd climbed a massive mountain of ice - a massive dangerous mountain, where you didnt need reminding that all it would take was a misstep to send you plummeting 100m through a crack in the floor and into an icy lakes below, which would send you racing into the heart of the glacier...not a nice idea...
To celebrate our valiant return from the ice, we headed to the pub for a night on the tiles. Good times!
The next morning took us even further south to Wanaka via the mirror lakes and blue pools. The Mirror Lake is the one that you may recognise from 'Inspiration' Posters and the like - the eerily still lake
Mounty Fine
At the summit of our trek! with the reflection of Mount Cook in the mirror-like water. I can testify as fact that it looks exactly like that in real life. Incredible! The lake is VERY, VERY still...or at least we thought it was, until Georgia stuck her foot in and an eel tried to bite it off...
...maybe it could smell the blood from my wounded toes, which I kept stubbing to a pulp for the entire walk! I can make it up and down a glacier but not along a path?! Whats up with that?!
The blue pools are another fab place to go if you're in the South Island - kind of a naturally formed lagoon, they're fulled by water from the river getting trapped and flowing out GENTLY on the other side. This means that they are very deep, very blue, very still, and VERY cold! As we found out, whipping out our swimshorts and jumping in...the horror!
They were also the location of a fairly big scare, when Ryan, following AJ and Will's example, dove off the top of a 10 metre cliff face into the pools...coming perilously close to the rocks, and disappearing from view for what seemed like 30 minutes,
IceMen
Rob and AJ prepare to scale the glacier not 30 seconds. When he re-emerged, climbing valiantly onto the rocks like some sort of hero figure, we all breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. Poor bugger hurt his back though, so has been "taking it easy" ever since!!
We headed on through to Wanaka and to our hostel, where we met Neil, the guy staying in our room. Legendary guy, who played session trumpet, and has even, to my sheer delight - DONE BOND! He's played for the Arnold scores, so most of Pierce Brosnan's films and Casino Royale...what a ledge!!
He headed out with us to the bar, where he and Andrew painted the town red. I, on the other hand, headed back to the hostel after a couple of drinks...still knackered from the late night the night before!
The morning brought us out of Wanaka and to "Puzzling World" home of a load of REALLY cool illusions (water travelling uphill! WOW!!!) and the worlds 'First 3D Maze'. The best time to solve it is 15 minutes. I'm pleased to say I did it in 16, missing out only because I got lost on my way out...
Through to the 45th Parallel next, where
45th Parallel
Rob and AJ shake hands as they pass further south than 99% of the world's population! we had a picture taken at the point where 99% of the world's population will never travel further past. How cool is that?! Then it was off to Queenstown, via the Kawaru Bridge...home of BUNGY!
Now don't get me wrong, AJ and I were never planning on doing a bungy jump or extreme stuff on this trip because of our budget. There's a point though, where you're so hyped up with everyone doing it, that you have to flip a coin in a toilet and decide.
Coin says Yes! Gravity says No, no, no....
Not quite the MASSIVE Nevis Bungy (which I'd love to do) but I'm preeeetty happy saying that I free-fell 43m before plunging into icy cold water. FAB! Definatley recommended!!!
We rolled into Queenstown for a couple of days rest before Bottom Bus and headed out into town the first night to say goodbye to the guys on the bus, bumping into Julian and Sarah, and ending up going for a drink with them as well - what a top pair of guys! We won ourselves a 'teapot cocktail' and many good times were had!
The following is a WARNING about cheap
Queenstown
The view from our hostel over Q-Town! boxed wine.
AJ and I had a MASSIVE falling out the following night. Mostly because of the wine, but also because I was being a bit of an arse to be fair. The problem with boxed wine is that I didn't realise I'd had that much...and was drinking from a cup. Add into that the fact I could barely walk in shoes with my destroyed toes and that the World Bar in Queenstown is upstairs and it leads to me being turned away as a drunkard! A drunkard indeed!
Either way I'd had too much and expected Andrew to come and help me out. Problem was that he thought I'd gone home, and was busy ('nuff said) so didn't reply. And obviously didn't appreciate the 'You left me blah blah blah' verbal diorrhea crap that I was spouting when he tracked me down. And then almost beat the crap out of me. Now AJ doesn't look like an imposing guy, I know...and a lot of people say he should eat a bit more. But I'll tell you from the viewpoint of someone on the receiving end of the wrath of Andrew Richards...never...EVER...start a fight with him. I'm glad
BBQ!
Our Q-Town gang at our BBQ he's on my side...
So once this outrageous scene had occurred (and ended, everythings gravy folks!) we went BACK into town and had a good night! Fab!
So readers, we'll stop here for the time being. Coming soon is the chronicle of Rob in the Deep South on Bottom Bus, featuring Brewery Tours, lots of driving, some penguins and very little phone reception...stay tuned!
LTYM
xxx
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