Franz Josef Glacier

Trip Start Feb 25, 2007
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Trip End Aug 25, 2007


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Flag of New Zealand  , South Island,
Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The bus from Wanaka took us passed lake Hawea, possibly my favourites of the lakes here in terms of setting, and then on through the Haast pass, along the Haast valley, to Haast and then up the coastline to Franz Josef. The bus drivers here are awesome and give you running commentries of the things you are passing and make stops at vuewpoints for photos and stuff, something we weren't really prepared for after South American bus drivers. We got a hostel in Franz Josef and spent a fun evening playing pool with some English people, its nice, but also strange to be surrounded by so many english travellers now, and so many our age as well.
We booked the full day glacier guided hike, as we had been recommended by our mates. Getting up at 7 was pretty hard but the first part of the morning was the best i thought. The weather was clear to start and walking up the valley towards the glacier was unreal, its looks vast from below and we can only see the strip entering the valley, not the huge neve on top. 
It took us a while to get up close to where the glacier starts, walking along the river bed which during the spring and summer fills up due to the snowmelt. The company who run the hikes has a pretty professional set up and there were guys making sure that the paths in the ice were all good for us and cutting steps with their pick axes and stuff. Our guide has a pick axe too and pretty much cuts us steps and ledges through the glacier once we are passed the initial ascent. It is amazing to be walking on such a big mass of ice. They took us through awesome crevaces and tunnels in the ice where the water bores out channels, it was really phenominal and although it started raining, reeaaally heavily, we found it pretty good fun. We saw Kea birds, a kind of parrot, all around us, they are pretty rare here.
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