Hiking Up The Glacier
Some Words for The Class of '09
16 years ago
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Heli Hike
When we woke up in the morning and peered out our window the sun was shining and the skies were blue, the perfect weather for a heli hike :)
We were told that we just had to wear a few layers on top and some thin trousers as not to restrict you when walking on the ice. We went down to the shop, checked in and then went to get our equipment. They supplied you with walking boots and ice talons which attached to the bottom of the boots and gave grip when walking on the ice a lot like spikes. They also gave us some thick woolen socks so you feet didnt rub and also some stylish woolen mittens.
There were 22 in total doing the heli hike so we were split up into two groups of 11 dependant on our confidence and fitness. I was in the best group :) anfd we were the first to get in the helicopter for our scenic flight up to the base of the glacier ice fall. When we landed we were greeted by our guide who showed us how to attach the ice talons before we started our hike up the glacier. It wasn't as cold as I had expected and I was fine with just two t-shirts and a fleece, my toes got pretty cold after a while but they wern't that bad. The views were absolutely amazing and I loved sliding down the ice and throwing huge chunks into thin ice to smash it up! Our guide took us amongst ice caves, pinnacles and seracs on this amazing alpine environment, It was awesome.
We even got to see a few ice blocks cracking at falling from above due to the sun heating it up and melting it, which sounded like thunder. I took so many photos as everything just looked amazing. We were hiking for about 2 hours by which time the sky above the glacier had totally clouded over so the afternoon heli hike got cancelled. Fortunately for us the helicopter was still able to come and rescue us once it had cleared a bit and we had another good heli ride back down.
Its another early start for me tomorrow as the bus is leaving at 7.30 to go to Wanaka which is the last overnight stop before Queenstown where I will be spending a few days so It is likely that I won't be able to update my blog until then.
We were told that we just had to wear a few layers on top and some thin trousers as not to restrict you when walking on the ice. We went down to the shop, checked in and then went to get our equipment. They supplied you with walking boots and ice talons which attached to the bottom of the boots and gave grip when walking on the ice a lot like spikes. They also gave us some thick woolen socks so you feet didnt rub and also some stylish woolen mittens.
There were 22 in total doing the heli hike so we were split up into two groups of 11 dependant on our confidence and fitness. I was in the best group :) anfd we were the first to get in the helicopter for our scenic flight up to the base of the glacier ice fall. When we landed we were greeted by our guide who showed us how to attach the ice talons before we started our hike up the glacier. It wasn't as cold as I had expected and I was fine with just two t-shirts and a fleece, my toes got pretty cold after a while but they wern't that bad. The views were absolutely amazing and I loved sliding down the ice and throwing huge chunks into thin ice to smash it up! Our guide took us amongst ice caves, pinnacles and seracs on this amazing alpine environment, It was awesome.
We even got to see a few ice blocks cracking at falling from above due to the sun heating it up and melting it, which sounded like thunder. I took so many photos as everything just looked amazing. We were hiking for about 2 hours by which time the sky above the glacier had totally clouded over so the afternoon heli hike got cancelled. Fortunately for us the helicopter was still able to come and rescue us once it had cleared a bit and we had another good heli ride back down.
Its another early start for me tomorrow as the bus is leaving at 7.30 to go to Wanaka which is the last overnight stop before Queenstown where I will be spending a few days so It is likely that I won't be able to update my blog until then.
Franz Josef
From Mahinapua we went down to Pukekura and the Bushman's Centre which offered an insight into how people make a living on the coast possum trapping and helicopter deer recovery which was quite interesting, It is also the west coasts smallest town with a population of 2. There was a small museum there which had a pig in it, some eels and also possums so was more like a zoo! We also stopped there for breakfast but I wasn't too keen on trying the possum pies or possum pate so just stuck with bacon, sausage and egg. After our brief stop there we carried on our journey to Franz Josef and arrived around 2pm, which gave me good time to get my parcel posted off as it was starting to annoy me after carrying it around for a few days. We checked into our accommodation at the Rainforest Retreat and managed to get a room which only had myself, Justin and Christian in. We met Christian when he got on the bus at Greymouth and is now hanging out with me and Justin. After I had dumped all my stuff I went to the Petrol Station which also doubles up as the post office (Its a really small town) and managed to get my parcel in the post wahey!!
After that was sorted we went and got the ingrediants for our dinner which was spag bol and I added some fresh mushrooms and a pepper to the sauce. We put on a bit too much pasta so couldnt eat it all but it filled us all up and tasted good so a job well done I reckon. The Lions game wasn't too far away so we claimed our seats on the sofas and sat there until it was over. The film 'The Hunted' was on after that which I hadnt seen so watched that before retiring to my room to get a good nights sleep.
We were hopefuly doing a heli hike up the Franz Josef glacier the follwing day so had to check in for that at 10 if there were helicopters going up. We were told there was a 50% chance as the weather wasnt supposed to be that great and it didnt look too promising from the weather today but we just crossed our fingers.
After that was sorted we went and got the ingrediants for our dinner which was spag bol and I added some fresh mushrooms and a pepper to the sauce. We put on a bit too much pasta so couldnt eat it all but it filled us all up and tasted good so a job well done I reckon. The Lions game wasn't too far away so we claimed our seats on the sofas and sat there until it was over. The film 'The Hunted' was on after that which I hadnt seen so watched that before retiring to my room to get a good nights sleep.
We were hopefuly doing a heli hike up the Franz Josef glacier the follwing day so had to check in for that at 10 if there were helicopters going up. We were told there was a 50% chance as the weather wasnt supposed to be that great and it didnt look too promising from the weather today but we just crossed our fingers.
Mahinapua
A short drive from the town was Cape Foulwind and Taranga Bay where we had a short walk to one of NZ's largest seal colonies and also NZ's closest point to Australia, not that you can see it or anything! After that nice fresh blast of coastal air we cruised down past Charleston and on to the Punakaiki pancake rocks. These were a series of straitfied limestone stack which, over thousands of years had been eroded to give the effect of giant piles of neatly stacked pancakes.
Our next stop was Greymouth where we picked up some more passengers who had come from Christchurch and then went shopping for items we needed for the fancy dress party. It was decided the theme was that you had to be something that started with the first letter of you name. Most people thought of something straight away but I was really having trouble with 'K' so I decided I would have a look around and see if I got any inspiration. After a lot of debating I finally settled on a 'Killer' it was the best I could come up with :) So I bought a white T-shirt from the charity shop, some fake blood to smear on it and an axe, which was my deadly weapon!!
We were stopping the night at the Lake Mahinapua Hotel where we got to meet Les who ran the place, he's about 85 and absolutely hilarious. We had a BBQ group meal and then got changed to go to the bar for the evening aptly named the "poo pub". Id smeared my red blood on the t-shirt earlier and left it to dry so it was ready for me to put on after dinner, grabbed my axe and was all set. Everyone went dressed up and some people had really amusing costumes, especially this french guy called pierre who went as a pervert haha - I do have a pic and its hilarious!
The 'poo pub' takes a group photo of every group that stays there which are dated so Its really good to look through them all. So if you knew the date that someone stayed there you would be able to look up there pic which is kool.
Our next stop was Greymouth where we picked up some more passengers who had come from Christchurch and then went shopping for items we needed for the fancy dress party. It was decided the theme was that you had to be something that started with the first letter of you name. Most people thought of something straight away but I was really having trouble with 'K' so I decided I would have a look around and see if I got any inspiration. After a lot of debating I finally settled on a 'Killer' it was the best I could come up with :) So I bought a white T-shirt from the charity shop, some fake blood to smear on it and an axe, which was my deadly weapon!!
We were stopping the night at the Lake Mahinapua Hotel where we got to meet Les who ran the place, he's about 85 and absolutely hilarious. We had a BBQ group meal and then got changed to go to the bar for the evening aptly named the "poo pub". Id smeared my red blood on the t-shirt earlier and left it to dry so it was ready for me to put on after dinner, grabbed my axe and was all set. Everyone went dressed up and some people had really amusing costumes, especially this french guy called pierre who went as a pervert haha - I do have a pic and its hilarious!
The 'poo pub' takes a group photo of every group that stays there which are dated so Its really good to look through them all. So if you knew the date that someone stayed there you would be able to look up there pic which is kool.
Westport
From Nelson we headed west to a place called Westport stopping off at Nelson Lakes on the way. In Westport we had the option of doing Jet Boating, Horse Riding, and Quad Biking. I quite fancied the quad biking but found out when we got there that It wasn't on as some off the staff were off ill, or more like they had been to the Rugby match in Dunedin and not made it back!
So instead I decided to do Jet Boating along with everyone else on the bus.The Jet Boating was on the Buller River and lasted approx 1 1/4 hours. It was actually alot better than I had expected, I cant remember how much horse power the boat had but it was a lot and goddam fast. The driver was telling us that it could out manouvre any smaller boat and he proved it by going in and out of these rocks which were so close to the boat I dont know how he managed to squeeze through. We did some spins which were kool although I managed to get a wet bum even though I was kitted out with all the waterproof gear so god knows how that happened. The fire back at the base soon sorted that out though :)
Westport is pretty much in the middle of knowhere but the hostel "Basils" that we stayed at was ok and we managed to find a hotel around the corner serving roast dinners so that was a bonus. In the evening I just sat in front of the tv and watched Mr Deeds.
So instead I decided to do Jet Boating along with everyone else on the bus.The Jet Boating was on the Buller River and lasted approx 1 1/4 hours. It was actually alot better than I had expected, I cant remember how much horse power the boat had but it was a lot and goddam fast. The driver was telling us that it could out manouvre any smaller boat and he proved it by going in and out of these rocks which were so close to the boat I dont know how he managed to squeeze through. We did some spins which were kool although I managed to get a wet bum even though I was kitted out with all the waterproof gear so god knows how that happened. The fire back at the base soon sorted that out though :)
Westport is pretty much in the middle of knowhere but the hostel "Basils" that we stayed at was ok and we managed to find a hotel around the corner serving roast dinners so that was a bonus. In the evening I just sat in front of the tv and watched Mr Deeds.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Nelson
Well we managed to get ourselves out of bed in the morning ready for our 8am pickup to take us to the ferry terminal. When we boarded the ferry we got some nice seats in the lounge area and also had our own table which was nice, though I did fall asleep for a while and was awoken by Justin chatting away. I wondered who he would be chatting to but it turned out to be Clare who was one of the girls we had met in Oz and met in Auckland. Her and Jackie had hired a campervan so we managed to talk them into giving us a lift to Nelson which was kool and sorted out our problem of how we were going to get there which was lucky. It was a couple of hours to Nelson so I had a nice snooze in the back of the campervan. When we arrived in Nelson I told everyone to keep their eyes peeled for the Post Office as I was desperate to get my hands on my new camera!!! It was one of the first things we spotted to pulled in and dashed to the Post Shop to get my parcel wahey!!
Finally I had a camera in my hands, what a relief I can start taking photos again :) I just needed to sort out the next problem which was that it had an american plug so took a trip to the nearest electrical store and got an adapter. The four of us were going to go roller skating at the local rink but it was shut and only open on the weekends which was a bummer!
Me and Justin hadn't sorted out our accommodation yet so went to do that and found a really nice hostel called Trafalgar Sqaure Backpackers. It looked really new and the people there were really friendly so checked in there for two nights. We then went and met back up with Clare and Jackie for dinner before they set off again as they were heading further south. After that we came back to the hostel and attempted to watch a film but the video was knackered so played a few games of cards and hit the sack.
Our next day in Nelson wasn't that adventurous as we ended up sleeping in until 11.30 and the weather was really rubbish. We had a look around the city which is more like a town but its actually really nice, one of the nicest citys/towns Iv'e visited so far in NZ. I then went and put some photos on a CD and made a backup copy of the skydive DVD. We were going to go rock climbing but after we had eaten our lunch Justin went off the idea and instead we went to watch 'The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy' at the cinema which was ok. Afterwards we went back to the hostel to see who the people were that had come off the Kiwi bus and into our room. There was a guy called Christian and a couple in there who were all really kool and we went and got comething to eat with Christian downstairs at the restaurant in the hostel. We were pretty close to match time so hung around there and watched the Lions game.
After watching the Lions rise to victory we went out to see what the Nelson night life was like but ended up coming back after a couple of places as there wasn't much happening, plus we had to get up at 7.45 the next morning for the bus to Westport.
Finally I had a camera in my hands, what a relief I can start taking photos again :) I just needed to sort out the next problem which was that it had an american plug so took a trip to the nearest electrical store and got an adapter. The four of us were going to go roller skating at the local rink but it was shut and only open on the weekends which was a bummer!
Me and Justin hadn't sorted out our accommodation yet so went to do that and found a really nice hostel called Trafalgar Sqaure Backpackers. It looked really new and the people there were really friendly so checked in there for two nights. We then went and met back up with Clare and Jackie for dinner before they set off again as they were heading further south. After that we came back to the hostel and attempted to watch a film but the video was knackered so played a few games of cards and hit the sack.
Our next day in Nelson wasn't that adventurous as we ended up sleeping in until 11.30 and the weather was really rubbish. We had a look around the city which is more like a town but its actually really nice, one of the nicest citys/towns Iv'e visited so far in NZ. I then went and put some photos on a CD and made a backup copy of the skydive DVD. We were going to go rock climbing but after we had eaten our lunch Justin went off the idea and instead we went to watch 'The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy' at the cinema which was ok. Afterwards we went back to the hostel to see who the people were that had come off the Kiwi bus and into our room. There was a guy called Christian and a couple in there who were all really kool and we went and got comething to eat with Christian downstairs at the restaurant in the hostel. We were pretty close to match time so hung around there and watched the Lions game.
After watching the Lions rise to victory we went out to see what the Nelson night life was like but ended up coming back after a couple of places as there wasn't much happening, plus we had to get up at 7.45 the next morning for the bus to Westport.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Wellington
Wellington would be our last stop on the North Island before getting the ferry over to the South Island. On the way from River Valley we stopped off at a little town called Bulls who really wanted to imprint a memory of it in your mind. What they had done was name everything ending in bull. So for example the local bank was called bank-a-bull, the doctors was called cure-a-bull, toilets relieve-a-bull, anique shop was afford-a-bull and so on it was quite amusing. Also throughout the whole of NZ loads of small towns have decided to make themselves capitals of the world for certain things such as sheep shearing capital of the world, carrot growing capital of the world and some other bizzare things its hilarious.
We arrived in Wellington about 7pm and checked into the Base hostel there. We were supposed to be meeting back up with Chris and Stu there but when we asked we got told they had already checked out meaning they must have left Wellington already. There was no bus leaving on Friday from wellington even though we were told there was so we decided we would just spend one night in wellington and make our own way the Nelson the following day. When I asked at the reception desk ferrys for the friday I said there were none which Is why there was no Kiwi bus. If this was the case it totally messed up all my plans as the next bus and ferry were not until saturday which meant I would not arrive in Nelson until late Saturday when the post office would be shut and then leaving on Sunday the post office would also be shut nooooooooooooo!!!
I didn't know what to do as now I was unable to collect my camera which I had specifically sent to Nelson. After a while of debating what I should do I thought I would double check there was no ferry as It was a bit strange for no ferry to be leaving on a friday. So I got up the website on google and look at that there are 4 ferries! A big sigh of relief but what a stupid woman for telling me there were no ferries grrrr! I booked the tickets online and sorted out the shuttle bus to pick us up at 8 in the morning so now everything was back in place though we still didnt know how we were getting from Picton to Nelson but didnt worry about that for the time being!
Batman Begins came out today and me and Juston were despereate to see it so spent our eveing at the cinema. We went to the Empire which is apparently the biggest cinema in the southern hemisphere and is also the cinema where the LOTR films were premiered. There were leather arm chair seats inside the theatre which all had an engraved plaque on with the name of the person that sat there for the LOTR premiere i.e. director/actors and other people involved with the movie which was kool!
Batman Begins was absolutely awesome and its been such a long time since Ive been to see a movie where everyone actually applauded after it had finished. We then went back to the bar in our hostel as I had a voucher for a $10 bar tab that had been given to me by someone I met in Oz so thought I may as well use that up.
We arrived in Wellington about 7pm and checked into the Base hostel there. We were supposed to be meeting back up with Chris and Stu there but when we asked we got told they had already checked out meaning they must have left Wellington already. There was no bus leaving on Friday from wellington even though we were told there was so we decided we would just spend one night in wellington and make our own way the Nelson the following day. When I asked at the reception desk ferrys for the friday I said there were none which Is why there was no Kiwi bus. If this was the case it totally messed up all my plans as the next bus and ferry were not until saturday which meant I would not arrive in Nelson until late Saturday when the post office would be shut and then leaving on Sunday the post office would also be shut nooooooooooooo!!!
I didn't know what to do as now I was unable to collect my camera which I had specifically sent to Nelson. After a while of debating what I should do I thought I would double check there was no ferry as It was a bit strange for no ferry to be leaving on a friday. So I got up the website on google and look at that there are 4 ferries! A big sigh of relief but what a stupid woman for telling me there were no ferries grrrr! I booked the tickets online and sorted out the shuttle bus to pick us up at 8 in the morning so now everything was back in place though we still didnt know how we were getting from Picton to Nelson but didnt worry about that for the time being!
Batman Begins came out today and me and Juston were despereate to see it so spent our eveing at the cinema. We went to the Empire which is apparently the biggest cinema in the southern hemisphere and is also the cinema where the LOTR films were premiered. There were leather arm chair seats inside the theatre which all had an engraved plaque on with the name of the person that sat there for the LOTR premiere i.e. director/actors and other people involved with the movie which was kool!
Batman Begins was absolutely awesome and its been such a long time since Ive been to see a movie where everyone actually applauded after it had finished. We then went back to the bar in our hostel as I had a voucher for a $10 bar tab that had been given to me by someone I met in Oz so thought I may as well use that up.
River Valley
Well I started off the day by visiting the post office in Taupo as my camera should have been there for me to collect, but guess what it wasn't!!! And the really annoying thing was that my bus was leaving Taupo within 30 minutes so I ended up having to get it forwarded to Nelson so I could collect it when I got there. By the time I had sorted all of that out I made it on the bus a couple of minutes before It was leaving so cut it real close.
On the bus journey I got stuck back into my book which I managed to finish and then swopped with Justin so I am now reading 1st to die and so far it is really messed up. We passed Mount Doom on the way which was now covered in snow (The Mountain in the LOTR ROTK) and then stopped off for a walk. Neither me or Justin went on the walk as our leg muscles were still suffereing from when we played football in Taupo, that what happens when you dont do any stretches!!
River Valley was basically in the middle of knowhere and there wasn't an awful lot to do especially as the weather was pretty rubbish. We ended up just playing cards until dinner time and then got comfy ready for the Lions game which was average but at least we won. There was the option to do a grade 5 water rafting trip but we were feeling lazy and decided to do it somewhere else and have a sleep instead. I got up for breakfast at 9 planning to have brekkie quickly then jump back into bed as the bus wasn't leaving until 1pm but I noticed a sign saying we would have to check out by 10am so we had to quickly get all our stuff together so we were ready to go which really messed up my sleep in.
On the bus journey I got stuck back into my book which I managed to finish and then swopped with Justin so I am now reading 1st to die and so far it is really messed up. We passed Mount Doom on the way which was now covered in snow (The Mountain in the LOTR ROTK) and then stopped off for a walk. Neither me or Justin went on the walk as our leg muscles were still suffereing from when we played football in Taupo, that what happens when you dont do any stretches!!
River Valley was basically in the middle of knowhere and there wasn't an awful lot to do especially as the weather was pretty rubbish. We ended up just playing cards until dinner time and then got comfy ready for the Lions game which was average but at least we won. There was the option to do a grade 5 water rafting trip but we were feeling lazy and decided to do it somewhere else and have a sleep instead. I got up for breakfast at 9 planning to have brekkie quickly then jump back into bed as the bus wasn't leaving until 1pm but I noticed a sign saying we would have to check out by 10am so we had to quickly get all our stuff together so we were ready to go which really messed up my sleep in.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Last Day In Taupo
Well last night there was a Pool comp on at the Holy Cow bar so Me and Justin went up to enter as it was free, we had a ticked for a free beer and the winner got $100! We were playing Kiwi rules which are really rubbish! Basically if you foul the other person still only gets one shot and if you foul when your on the black you lose. I managed to win the first game by the other person potting one of my balls on the black and then the second game went ok and I managed to clear up. The third game which was the quarter final was against some guy who thought he was well good strutting around like he was a big hotshot he looked like a right idiot, so that made me really determined to beat him to whipe that smirk off his face! Anyway he managed to pot most of his balls off the break and only had a couple left so I had to start playing some tactical shots to keep myself in the game. I kept playing some really nice shots and snookering him everytime which I could see he was getting really annoyed with after a while as he couldnt pot any of his balls. In the end he managed to pot his last two balls but the black was safe on the cushion and just went up the other end of the table, which gave me a brilliant snooker that was really hard to get out of. Anyway he missed the black and in Kiwi rules that meant I won haha!! I lost my next game but didnt really care I was just pleased id beaten flip flop boy - who wears flip flops in the winter and to a bar????
Today we got up fairly late as I lay in bed for a while reading my book the rule of four which is awesome, I chose it at random and its turned out to be a really good read. After I got up we then went down to the info desk to see what we could do to fill up our last day in Taupo. We spotted a golf leaftlet and decided a game of pitch and putt would be fun so went to ask the guy at the desk where the nearest one was. We got our directions and then walked about 5 mins to where it was on the map. When we got there it was a mini golf course, obviously the guy at the desk thought they were the same thing. Anwyay we decided we may as well stay there and have a round. That was quite fun and I manged to get a good score :)
After that we went into town, I checked in the post office to see if my camera had arrived there but it still hasn't :( hopefully it will be there in the morning! Justin needed to exchange a hat he'd bought and then we had a look around a few of the other shops. Pak n' Save New Zealands budget supermarket was right near by so we went in there to get our dinner and then back to our hostel to cook it! We've got a load of vouchers for free beer at certain bars so were going to take advantage of those tonight I think but its not going to be a late one as our bus is leaving at 9.30 tomorrow morning heading for River Valley where we may indulge in some White Water Rafting!
Today we got up fairly late as I lay in bed for a while reading my book the rule of four which is awesome, I chose it at random and its turned out to be a really good read. After I got up we then went down to the info desk to see what we could do to fill up our last day in Taupo. We spotted a golf leaftlet and decided a game of pitch and putt would be fun so went to ask the guy at the desk where the nearest one was. We got our directions and then walked about 5 mins to where it was on the map. When we got there it was a mini golf course, obviously the guy at the desk thought they were the same thing. Anwyay we decided we may as well stay there and have a round. That was quite fun and I manged to get a good score :)
After that we went into town, I checked in the post office to see if my camera had arrived there but it still hasn't :( hopefully it will be there in the morning! Justin needed to exchange a hat he'd bought and then we had a look around a few of the other shops. Pak n' Save New Zealands budget supermarket was right near by so we went in there to get our dinner and then back to our hostel to cook it! We've got a load of vouchers for free beer at certain bars so were going to take advantage of those tonight I think but its not going to be a late one as our bus is leaving at 9.30 tomorrow morning heading for River Valley where we may indulge in some White Water Rafting!
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