Blogs from Franz Josef, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 4

Days 67 & 68 We boarded the bus and headed for The Bushman Centre where we saw a dvd of how they used to chase deer in the mountains on helicopters then jump out wrestle them and tie them up and fly them to deer farms in order to control their numbers. We then looked at their big fat pig, evil eels, a couple of possoms and deer - a very random place. We then dropped Stuart off to do hs sky dive over the fox glacier. He was taken to the town of Fox Glacier where he donned his jump suit and boarded the tiniest of planes which was pioleted by a ten year old boy (or at least he looked like one). Stuart was taken up to 12000 ft flying over Mount Cook and ... read more

It's still raining!! It has been raining for the last 3.5 days pretty much non stop. I did not realise it could rain that much. I think the following poem entitled "Rain" pretty much sums it up! It rained, and it rained, and rained and rained. The average fall was well maintained. And when the tracks were simply bogs, It started raining cats and dogs. After a drought of half an hour We had the most refreshing shower. And then, the most curious thing of all A gentle rain began to fall. Next day was also fairly dry (save for the deluge from the sky) which wet the party to the skin, And after that.... the rain set in! We have managed a bit of walking but it has all been a bit on the wet ... read more

Drove into Franz Josef and immediately booked ourselves onto the 3/4 day hike especially organised to fit in with the Stray tours for the following day. We stayed in a portacabin at the Rainforest retreat, and were abit disappointed to find their Spa empty! The Franz Josef Glacier Guides company was quite a big outfit. They gave us all the necessary kit for the hike, including boots and 'Talonz', crampons specially made to fit the leather boots. We went by minibus to the foot of the valley, then walked for an hour to the terminal face of the Glacier. It was so impressive to see one of the only glaciers in the world that is actually advancing. Incredibly it currently moves down the valley at over a metre per day, although the terminal face melts by ... read more

O.M.G.! Check out the photos, they say it all.... read more

Climbed the glacier today, am soaked to the skin even in dry clothes as it appears to suddenly be monsoon season! The glacier was awesome, never seen anything like it, also v scary to climb, lots of big crevaces and drops and the odd bridge to cross...... Conviniently the glacier no longer has a nice smooth incline to the top at the start but a vertical face, which we had to climb! Takes a long time as the guides have to cut a path way into the rock with an ice pick, once at the top there are millions of pools filling the crevaces and it can get quite slippery. Definitely scarier than a sky dive! Oh and since everything got wet, my personal attack alarm has malfunctioned and makes a continuous clicking noise, though if ... read more