Glaciers and Wanaka

Hey everyone

Hope everyone is well and missing me loads

So,at Franz Joseph i went on a helihike - basically, a 15 minute helicoper rde up to the top of the glacier and then a 2 hour hike in the glacier, before getting a helicopter ride back down. The ride was incredible..i had never been on a helicopter before and the views surrounding the glacier were unlike anything i had ever seen. On arrival at the top, we met our guide and got all kitted up with spikes and the like before setting out. Walking on ice is so strange and took a few minutes to get used to. Luckily i didnt fall over, but certain people in the group did, which was quite funny! We walked through crevises and caves, and even jumped into an ice cold plunge pool with all our gear on, just for a laugh. It didnt seem so funny when we got out and were freezing cold with still another 40 minutes to hike! Regardless, it was an amazing trip. Going back down to the mainland, our pilot did some nifty tricks in teh helicopter, spinning us around and pretending to crash into mountains. great!

We just chilled out in the afternoon and it was really quiet because the majority of people were doing the full day hike over the glacier or sky diving. It was an early night to bed after a great day. We left Franz at 7.30am the next day and started our long journey to Wanaka. Despite the lengh, it was probably the best journey we have had in terms of scenery - just absolutely stunning!

We stopped off at Lke Matheson which is a really dark, still lake surrounded by mountains such as Mt Cook (very famous here) and Mt Tasman. Because of the colour of the lake, these mountains reflect perfectly in the water, so was an amazing sight. After a quick breakfas, we set out back on the road. We stpped off at a few viewpoints en route, including Haast River which had a very cool waterfall, Thundercreek Waterall and Ship Cove.

On arrival into Wanaka, we checked into our hotel...yes, thats right.HOTEL (not hostel for once!) and went to check out the town. Its a very small town with a population of only 4000 (but that increases during the ski season) but in a beautiful setting. ME and Claire just sat by the lake for a while and tehn joined some of the bus group for a BBQ at the bar accross the road from the hostel. It was another fairly early night beacuse today we are heading to Queentown where we are meeting up with our friends from North Island and its going to be a huge party!

Speak soon

xxxxx