Knightswood Lodge B & B Franz Josef

... route took us up through the Temperate Rainforest that lives next door to the freezing glacier, apparently this only happens in 2 places in the world, here and somewhere in Argentina. We climbed (descended a few) 868 steps in total according to LJ. As soon as we got into the forest the temperature was much warmer and everyone stripped off a few layers, the walk got interesting after taking a short ladder up onto a ledge and after here we had to hold onto a chain at all times as ...

... working this morning but hey! it was FREE.

Fully enjoying working here at the moment, all we do is clean the rooms and make up beds and have very long tea breaks. Everyone we work with is lovely, most british, irish and finnish, oh and the aussie too!

Another perk to the hostel is that we can use the hot tub.....everynight! .....have free laundry, soup, and locals rates in bars/cafes/excurisons etc! Wicked!!!!

... dinner and then showed us the war dances they did and we got to have a go. The guys were so funny dressed in skirts having to hit their legs so hard they came out bright red!

I got on the Stray bus no problem and free of charge - which was really good and they were great fun, get us talking to everyone by making us do a speed date with each other asking set questions which is good fun. We also have games on the ...

... hit the water, he ended up keeping his eyes open and over the day developed a black eye. I did think just after the jump he might pass out but he was ok in the end. Dan and I happily watched from the bridge and took video and photos. We drove on to Wanaka where we entered Puzzle World. This was a lot of fun particularly the room that was on a slant as it affected Dan's brain and freaked him out. We don ...

... in with a hammer; Not good. So we booked the YHA he had on his computer and headed for Franz Joseph at 9pm. I drove the whole 5 hour drive up there. The roads in NZ are pretty crazy. Basically they are narrow and really windy. Add that to rain, fog, and one lane bridges that just appear without warning, and it makes for a scary drive. Josh was even impressed with my determination to get us there. (My determination was driven by the fact he scares me to death when he drives, so I wasn't ...

... for the next day – one a 2 hour walking tour and the other a 90 minute Brewery tour which involved a 30 minute tasting – yippee. I have to say it was weird seeing streets all named the same as in Edinburgh, not just the main streets but even side streets with names like Elm Row, Calton Hill and to see buses headed for Corstorphine – these Free Presbyterians who created the new city obviously didn’t want to completely forget where they had come ...

Today the rain came and like most things in New Zealand, they do rain well, really well. The area is spectacular with the mountains covered in snow and below the snow temperate rain forest. The "rain" forest. Today was the day I did my Glacier walk on the Fox Glacier. I had the morning chillin' at the villa and getting my blog up to date, took a hearty breakfast at The Landing and headed the 30 minute extreme Alpine drive over from ...

... way the guides have to constantly repair and build new steps and so we often get to stop for breaks. The first group were the main path builders and so had more and longer stops than us so we were glad we chose to be in group 2. At the summit we take a few pictures and then it's a rapid journey back down to the bottom before the sun sets.

Back on the bus, we wait about 10-15 mins for the other groups to catch up ...

... start at Fox Glacier. It was only a half hour drive but we decided to try to fill up the ole gas tank. Jay got out in the cold only to discover that we still couldn't get the gas tank door to open up. We'd had this problem earlier but had somehow managed to pry it open and hadn't thought too much of it since. After prying at it for 10 mins we decided to just drive to Fox and deal with that problem after the glacier climb.

We waddled up the lodge, all bundled ...

... ever do it, don't go at the back of the queue: all sizes are not always available (eg: they tell you to put an extra pair of socks if they don't have your shoe size in stock anymore!!). So, they lend you: trousers, coats, hat, gloves, socks, hiking shoes and...crampons! (yes, you're hardly going to go on ice with your flip flops!). Once we are ready, we all hop on the bus to start the day.


Franz Josef, South Island, New Zealand leprefrog