Last few days have been pretty packed, fallen behind in this journal - always a good sign! Left Greymouth on the 24th, leaving Corney, Neil and Mary behind, and a few more - apparently it can be quite difficult to get seats on the Stray buses for some sections. Sat next to Áine - the Irish stayed at a neat little hostel called Noah's Ark, with animal themed rooms.
Picked up the bone and jade covers, with their very fine pieces of jewellery. I'm still sure of the exact sequence of events, but English Gemma guessed at myself and Rachel's little secret. We were then ordered to buy chocolate for the bus, as per the bus rules. Made a lunch/shop stop, bought a pile of mini Kit-Kats, Dairy Milks and Milky Bars. One of the Germas was not pleased with the short duration of the stop, and was apparently quite insulting to Snowy, though I didn't realise the fullextent of it 'til a few days later.
Arrived at Franz Josef village late afternoon. Turns out my Kaikoura/Picton buddies all booked into a different hostel. Shared a room with the Irish instead, and Dutch Gea. Made some dinner, accompanied by a cold beer. Checked out the hot tub - cold also. Went to the bar, chatted with English Mark, English Natalie and Canadian Elisha. Also a German-RSA dude whose name I still don't know - disgrace!
Up around six am on the 25th to go hiking up the FJ glacier. Signed up for the full day. At the centre, we were each provided with thick socks, boots, crampons, over-trousers, a jacket and a hat and gloves. Huge bulk of stuff! Never wore the over-trousers at all. Bus to the glacial valley, then we were split into self-determined groups depending on our desired pace. I of course chose the fastest group, which later sub-divided into two, and I went for fastest again.
Chris was our guide for the day, and gave us a few tips on walking in crampons - be aggressive, and stomp down to get good grip. I was playing attention, but still managed to slip down the side of a pile of scree almost straight away. At the base of the glacier are lots of deposited rocks and pebbles which have to be negotiated before getting to the ice. Even then, the first areas of ice are dirty, so much so that it's impossible to tell where the rock ends and the ice begins.
We made our way slowly upwards, into the purer, whiter parts of the glacier. Michelle, Stefan and Marius were also in the group. Progress was painfully slow. I'm not sure if our guide was being overly cautious given the ambitious nature of our group and our level of fitness, but it seemed that we were stationary as much as we were moving. There were numerous sets of steps cut into the ice, many with rope handrails. These ropes are secured by screws in the ice, about 6-8 inches long. With overnight melting, the screws need to be reseated each morning, and given we were the first group, that was therefore our guide's job. Completely necessary - it was frightening to see how easily they fell out with a quick tug - but annoying to endure as a paying customer. Ideally there would be a scouting party checking said ropes, rather than using us. Even on our descent, Chris was still reseating them.
Apart from the pace, being on the glacier was a great experience. In places. blue ice sparkled from behind layers of white. Elsewhere the ice resembled huge chunks of glass, completely transparent. The shapes and peaks of the ice were it's been eroded and sculpted by wind and water were fascinating - like geographical lessons in miniature. We stop on a flattish area for lunch. I break out the frisbee for a quick game, and borrow Chris' pickaxe for a photo-op. We continue upwards for a short while before starting down again. When we reach the carpark, everyone sits and eats, legs heavy with fatigue. All that stomping with crampons. Back to the hostel before a trip to the hot pools across the road, which was complimentary with the glacier hike. Most of the bus is there, and we sit and chat and share jokes. Dinner and two sneaky happy hour pints in the pub, then myself, Elaine, Jen and Esther take a little walk through a nearby forest to find some glow worms. Anna-Louise comes too - Zuckerschnitzel! Jen and Esther have fits of giggles, which is more exciting than the glow worms.
Saw Sabrina at the hostel, the German from the boat in Abel Tasman. Also was talking to Australian Emily in the hot pools (met her again in Queenstown). Talked with Gemma and Olly and Julien for a few minutes after the walk before retiring.
Picked up the bone and jade covers, with their very fine pieces of jewellery. I'm still sure of the exact sequence of events, but English Gemma guessed at myself and Rachel's little secret. We were then ordered to buy chocolate for the bus, as per the bus rules. Made a lunch/shop stop, bought a pile of mini Kit-Kats, Dairy Milks and Milky Bars. One of the Germas was not pleased with the short duration of the stop, and was apparently quite insulting to Snowy, though I didn't realise the fullextent of it 'til a few days later.
Arrived at Franz Josef village late afternoon. Turns out my Kaikoura/Picton buddies all booked into a different hostel. Shared a room with the Irish instead, and Dutch Gea. Made some dinner, accompanied by a cold beer. Checked out the hot tub - cold also. Went to the bar, chatted with English Mark, English Natalie and Canadian Elisha. Also a German-RSA dude whose name I still don't know - disgrace!
***
Up around six am on the 25th to go hiking up the FJ glacier. Signed up for the full day. At the centre, we were each provided with thick socks, boots, crampons, over-trousers, a jacket and a hat and gloves. Huge bulk of stuff! Never wore the over-trousers at all. Bus to the glacial valley, then we were split into self-determined groups depending on our desired pace. I of course chose the fastest group, which later sub-divided into two, and I went for fastest again.
Chris was our guide for the day, and gave us a few tips on walking in crampons - be aggressive, and stomp down to get good grip. I was playing attention, but still managed to slip down the side of a pile of scree almost straight away. At the base of the glacier are lots of deposited rocks and pebbles which have to be negotiated before getting to the ice. Even then, the first areas of ice are dirty, so much so that it's impossible to tell where the rock ends and the ice begins.
We made our way slowly upwards, into the purer, whiter parts of the glacier. Michelle, Stefan and Marius were also in the group. Progress was painfully slow. I'm not sure if our guide was being overly cautious given the ambitious nature of our group and our level of fitness, but it seemed that we were stationary as much as we were moving. There were numerous sets of steps cut into the ice, many with rope handrails. These ropes are secured by screws in the ice, about 6-8 inches long. With overnight melting, the screws need to be reseated each morning, and given we were the first group, that was therefore our guide's job. Completely necessary - it was frightening to see how easily they fell out with a quick tug - but annoying to endure as a paying customer. Ideally there would be a scouting party checking said ropes, rather than using us. Even on our descent, Chris was still reseating them.
Apart from the pace, being on the glacier was a great experience. In places. blue ice sparkled from behind layers of white. Elsewhere the ice resembled huge chunks of glass, completely transparent. The shapes and peaks of the ice were it's been eroded and sculpted by wind and water were fascinating - like geographical lessons in miniature. We stop on a flattish area for lunch. I break out the frisbee for a quick game, and borrow Chris' pickaxe for a photo-op. We continue upwards for a short while before starting down again. When we reach the carpark, everyone sits and eats, legs heavy with fatigue. All that stomping with crampons. Back to the hostel before a trip to the hot pools across the road, which was complimentary with the glacier hike. Most of the bus is there, and we sit and chat and share jokes. Dinner and two sneaky happy hour pints in the pub, then myself, Elaine, Jen and Esther take a little walk through a nearby forest to find some glow worms. Anna-Louise comes too - Zuckerschnitzel! Jen and Esther have fits of giggles, which is more exciting than the glow worms.
Saw Sabrina at the hostel, the German from the boat in Abel Tasman. Also was talking to Australian Emily in the hot pools (met her again in Queenstown). Talked with Gemma and Olly and Julien for a few minutes after the walk before retiring.
