Glacier hiking

The trip to FranzJosef was fairly short but had one important little stop along the way. We stopped in a tiny place called Ross and did some gold panning. This little settlement was the centre for gold mining and panning in its heyday and they still mine there today i believe. When we got to the i-site and paid our $8 we got a pan of stones each with the promise we would all strike gold. They led us out back to where they had a series of baths. Here we were shown how to 'wash' the stones out of our pans using the water to drag the bigger stones into the bath. Its all about rolling the stones out without losing any precious gold! Because the gold is heavier than stone it stays at the bottom and a lip on the pan ensures it doesn't get washed out. There are only small flakes in each pan so its easy enough to get down to it and pick out the stones at the end. We certainly weren't going to get rich out of the gold we found. So in the bottom of each pan are flecks of gold (and greenstone) which get transferred into a little vial to give you a souvenir of the experience.

We arrived in FJ around noon which allowed people to go on a half day hike on the glacier and move on the following morning if they were in a rush which plenty of people chose to do. There were a few of us hanging on for the full day experience and we got to see the glacier in the afternoon from a viewpoint near its head. The next day we would be walking on ice for many hours so it was quite an impressive sight to see this frozen river of ice flowing down the valley. After that i just chilled out and did a few bits and pieces that id put off for a few days including getting all the gear together that i would need to bring with me tomorrow. Later on a few of us in the hostel took advantage of happy hour in a nearby bar to have a few cheap drinks and then it was an early night to prepare myself for my adventures the next day.

I arrived at the Glacier Guides centre at 8am excited by the prospect of the coming day. There were 40 people on the hike with me which sounds a lot but it worked out ok as i'll explain later. We got our briefing and were provided with waterproof jacket and trousers, boots, woolly socks and crampons. These are metal spikes which you strap onto the sole of your boots to give you grip on the ice. This all took a while as there were so many of us so it was after 9am by the time we were on the bus which shuttled us to the viewpoint id been at the previous day. This is where the trek began. It started with a quick hike through some woodland to the valley floor close to the glacier itself. Here we were split into two groups, the pace setters and the picture takers. I jumped in the first group as i was there for the challenge and experience more so than to take a million photos which, upon looking around, i suspected plenty of people were. Photos are great but if you don't enjoy these places when you are there then what's the point? Our group took off at a good, steady pace and soon reached the front of the glacier where 2 more guides were waiting. We now had 4 guides which put each group at 10 to one guide which is pretty manageable. Next we climbed a hill of scree until we reached the ice itself. At this stage we put on the crampons and were ready to walk on ice!

The trick to walking on ice in crampons is to keep walking forwards in a straight line and stamping your feet slightly at each step to dig the spikes in. Keeping your feet apart also ensures you don't faceplant or rip your pants. Other than that its pretty straightforward (get it?). Just pay attention and you'll be fine. But then when you are walking on one of the most amazing natural occurrences and gazing around you at the natural beauty of the glacier and its valley then you can be forgiven for being a little distracted. I guess the first thing i noticed about the glacier is the surface. When i think of ice i think of smooth, shiny and slippery but a glacier is different because it is constantly melting and freezing so the surface is rarely flat, hardly ever smooth and often quite rough. There are dips, cracks, crevasses, towering walls, tunnels and hills all over the surface of it. Because the glacier is basically constantly melting and reforming the surface changes a lot. So it forms randomly and is tricky to negotiate. Our guide began putting his pickaxe to good use clearing a path for us mostly by cutting steps or clearing new ice from existing steps. This makes progress pretty slow as we have to wait for him to do this at times. We spent a lot of time climbing up but at times would walk through little 'valleys' with walls of ice rising on each side. The going wasn't too bad so far, we were moving steadily and doing plenty of climbing up and down with small patches of walking on flat terrain. We could fill our water bottles from the various little streams we occasionally came across too. So this point it was a pleasantly challenging experience. But it was about to get better.

The first bit of real excitement was the first tunnel. We crouched and half crawled, half shuffled our way through a tiny tunnel carved into the ice, a prime photo stop! Soon after this we stopped for lunch and the other groups caught up. Then the guides disappeared somewhere together for what seemed like an age. When they came back they were soaked through and grinning from ear to ear. We were told to don our waterproof stuff and follow them. Around the corner we we saw what had them so wet and excited. We were going to go through a blue ice crevasse which had water streaming down both sides. It was a tight squeeze, you could only go through sideways but it was an amazing sight. It was deep enough that we could see the true (blue) colour of ice and with the aid of a rope we could get in and out and see it up close and personal. So close in fact that we got pretty wet, waterproof gear or not! Taking pictures was kind of out of the question as there was a lot of water falling on us so sadly no amazing pictures. That was easily the highlight of the day and we followed it with a couple more tunnels and crevasses. We were all really enjoying the day but i was starting to get a little frustrated with two of the group. We had 2 chinese girls in our group who every 5 minutes or so would stop and take several pictures of each other. This could be halfway up or down a slope, inside a tunnel or crevasse or just while walking along. Its really annoying when you are trying to get up a hill of ice and the person in front of you stops. I got stuck behind them for an hour and was getting pretty fed up of them before i got a chance to pass them. I think its an Asian thing to take millions of photos of yourself while abroad while doing the "peace" salute.

Besides this i really enjoyed the day and its definitely a highlight of my overall trip. That said, when we began to descend the glacier i was happy enough to do so. It was after 3 by this time and we had been walking pretty consistently since before 10am. It took no time at all to work our way down and we were on the rocks taking the crampons off by 4. A brisk walk back through the bush and we were back on the bus. We got dropped off at the office where we shed all the gear we had been given for the day and that was it. I jumped on the net to share my day's adventure with everyone and then it was back to the hostel in time for the free soup. After that i made my way to the glacial hot pools to relax my weary muscles. 3 hot pools at 36, 38 and 40 degrees celsius soothed my stiff legs and i chatted away to a few other people who were doing the same. Back at the hostel i watched a bit of a movie and had an early night and that was me done.

I had one last day in FJ afterwards which, needless to say, was a lazy one. Besides the glacier there is precious else of interest in this quiet little town so i relaxed and caught up on some reading and a bit of blogging. After such a hectic day yesterday it was nice to sit in the sunshine and chill out. I was still on holiday after all! Next stop is Lake Wanaka for a bit more chilling out before finishing it all off in the craziness known as Queenstown.

The west coast of NZ's South Island

From Nelson it is a long trip to the next major settlement on the west coast: Greymouth. The plan was to have just one night there and move on to FranzJosef the following day. This necessitated a lot of traveling. We spent almost the whole day on the bus taking occasional photo stops and toilet breaks. The weather wasn't the best so it was a poor enough day for sightseeing. Still I was able to appreciate the stark, rugged beauty coastline of the west coast of NZ with the mountains on one side and the Tazman Sea on the other. The first stop of interest was to see a seal colony. I thought we would be walking along a beach amongst them but we simply looked down from the top of a cliff at them. If they weren't moving about you might not even notice they were there as they blend in quite well to the rocks they are sitting on. There were plenty of pups flopping around the place which was kind of cute but the weather meant we didn't hang around for long. There was a pretty cool signpost though that pointed to the major cities of the world and gave the distances from that point to them. Dublin didn't feature but Westport did (the NZ one)! Later in the day we had another stop at a landmark known as the 'Pancake Rocks'. They are so called because they have formed in layers like a stack of pancakes. They are some kind of geological anomaly and were interesting enough but I was more interested in the blowholes; holes in the rock above a cave where waves crash in and spout from the blowhole. After that we had another quick stop at a lookout that had a waterfall on the beach and we were pretty much in Greymouth.

Most of us on the bus had signed up to the activity here in Greymouth offered by the Magic Bus: a brewery tour. We got a deal on a tour and tasting followed by a meal in a bar of our choice. The brewery tour was quite interesting, it was a lot smaller than the one I had visited in Brisbane but there was a more personal touch to the brewery process because of that. The highlight of the tour was undoubtedly the tasting at the end. We got to taste 7 different brews from cider to pilsner to ale and afterwards had the opportunity to pour a glass (or two) of your favourite. One of our group proved themselves to be a lightweight here as they got smashed off the tasting. Who? A Brazilian guy named Cicero. He provided the entertainment for the evening as we drank more in the bar later. We got ferried to said bar in a taxi and had our pub grub and a few more bevvies. It was a good night and a great way to end a long day traveling. We didn't get to see much of Greymouth as a result but by all accounts I wasn't missing much. We had an early start the next day but a relatively short trip to the town of FranzJosef, home of the FranzJosef glacier on which I would be hiking for a full day!

Arrival on the South Island and Nelson

The day began with a shuttle bus to the ferry terminal. We loaded our luggage much as you would do for a flight and boarded the ferry which would take us across the Cook Straits to the South Island of NZ. The journey was to last 3 hours and it was a bright, sunny day so it promised to be a pleasant crossing. The first part of the journey was nice but it wasnt until we got close to the South Island that it became spectacular. I had been told a few times that the North Island was almost ugly compared to the South and I began to see what they were getting on about. As we sailed through the straits that would lead us to the town of Picton I almost felt like I was back in Ha Long Bay. Surrounded on both sides by green, forested mountains and headlands it is a truly picturesque journey. We passed little bays and inlets along the way and even saw little isolated dwellings from which the only transport to civilisation could be boat. My mood and health were quickly improving by the time we landed. It was an effortless process to collect my baggage and hop on the waiting Magic Bus. From there it was a straight trip to Nelson where I would be staying for the next two nights. The scenery along the way was as breathtaking as that on the approach to the S. Island and I was quickly falling in love with the place. By the time we reached Nelson it was evening so barring a quick trip by a few of us off the bus to the supermarket it was a quiet night in. On the boat I began hearing about the earthquake which had hit Christchurch during the previous night and done so much damage, I didnt know anything about it till I saw a tv screen with news about it!

What most people do when they get to Nelson is take a trip to Abel Tazman National Park. I decided against this as I was just starting to recover from the flu and I was more focused on my hike on the FranzJosef glacier in a few days time. I wanted to be in good health for that. That said I did go for a short walk to the “Centre of NZ” which is the top of a hill on the outskirts of town. A brisk 30 minute walk took me to this nice viewpoint and I sat there and enjoyed both the sunshine and the view for a while. After a bit I decided to continue my walking and took another little walk which brought me over some hills to another part of town. All in all I was walking for a couple of hours and got back to the hostel in the early afternoon. Nothing too challenging but it fit the bill nicely. I spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hostel, doing some reading and writing and in the evening I followed this up by taking full advantage of the free hot spa and sauna provided by the hostel. It was an excellent way to finish off a good day. Also in the hostel I met a number of people who would be on the same Magic Bus as me in the morning so there would be a good gang of us for the next leg of the journey!

Welly and couchsurfing part 2

Wellington didnt have much of a chance since I arrived there sick and a bit down in the dumps as a result. Our driver for this section, Dusty, was the total opposite. He was a real livewire and was always chipping in on the mike with funny comments about various things and was just full of enthusiasm. Our main photostop was atop Mt Victoria which is beside Wellington. From here we got a good view of the city and the outlying bay. After this we went down into the city itself and everyone got off to check into their respective hostels. I wouldnt be using a hostel this time round as I had plans to couchsurf while I was in town. I had to wait until my host finished work first so I dossed around the city for a while using the internet and just getting some hot drinks into me. Then it was time to catch the bus out to one of the suburbs. All this was fine and I arrived at the house ok, sadly there was nobody there to greet me. I stuck around for about a half hour and realised there was a massive traffic jam just around the corner, a bus was blocking both flows. This meant wherever my host was she wouldnt be home anytime soon. I had no phone to get in touch with her and was starting to get cold as well so decided to abandon this couchsurfing attempt at least for one night. Lucky for me a friendly guy walking past was able to advise me on my best route back into the city centre which conveniently took me past his house so I walked with him for a bit before he showed me the entrance to the botanic gardens where there is a cable car down the hill into the city centre. So I caught that into town and walked to the nearest hostel to book in. After I got that sorted I bought a call card and got in touch with my would be host and let her know what had happened and that I would try catch up with her when she was in the city the following day. With all that done it wasnt long before I crashed into bed.

The next day started pretty sluggishly. I had no major plans for the day bar hitting the free museum and tracking down this couchsurfer. I achieved one of those goals. By the late morning I was wandering around Te Papa, the free national museum in Wellington. Its a really amazing complex comprising several floors and takes in everything from the geological history of New Zealand to the Maori history with everything in between and a few quirky sideshows thrown in for good measure. I spent a good 3 hours walking around it and didnt take in everything, its that big. If you are ever in Wellington it is well worth a visit and is the right price = FREE! In the afternoon I braved the famous winds of the 'Windy City' to search for my couchsurfer. She was supposed to be doing some charity work on one of the major streets but I never saw her. That pretty much killed the whole couchsurfing attempt and I just booked myself in for the remaining two nights in town. I spent the rest of the day chilling in the hostel and went for a few bevvies with a crew from my room. I stuck to the hot toddies to see if they would help shift the flu and had a good laugh with the crew.

My last day in Wellington was a lazy one. I wasnt really in the mood for doing anything in particular so I just hung around the hostel and arranged my travel for the next day. I was starting to feel a bit better due mainly to some stronger meds. Hopefully going to the South Island would give me a boost as well since its supposed to be beautiful and the real reason for visiting NZ!

Freefallin

It was another early start to catch the bus to Taupo via Waitomo. In Waitomo they have a couple of tourist attractions centred around the caves that permeate the area. We stopped in this tiny little spot (popn about 50 people) for 3 hours so I, like most people on the bus, decided to take a guided tour of one of the caves. The reason the caves here are so popular is the resident gloworms. We took a walk through the cave dimly lit by candlelight and saw tiny little specks of light on the ceilings and walls of the cave. In a sense its like looking at stars on a clear night. I think they are unique to NZ too so pretty neat. Between this and a bit of mooching around we filled our time here and were soon on our way to Taupo through heavy rain. This didnt bode well for my planned activity the following day – skydiving. We got to Taupo in the afternoon and considering the weather a few of us stayed in and chilled at the hostel.

In the morning the nerves came on as it sunk in I would be jumping out of a plane later that day. I was scheduled for a 10.30am jump and I got picked up at the hostel a half hour before that. The banter in the car was good, everyone seemed in good form. Then, when we arrived at the centre we chose which package we wanted to do. After some deliberation I chose 15,000ft with a dvd and photos of the freefall. It was more money than I had planned on spending but I reasoned that I may never do something like this again and without the dvd and photos I may not remember it as its all over in a flash. This decision made we were introduced to the plane we would be flinging ourselves out of shortly, it was yellow and had teeth painted on the front. Then we suited up, met our tandem masters and cameramen and get our harnesses tightened up. Then it was time to go. By this stage everything is moving too quickly for you to dwell on what you are doing. Suit, harness, tighten harness, gloves, hat and goggles, then a tap on the shoulder and you are heading for the plane. I was first (bar my tandem master) into the plane so I would be one of the last jumpers. On the way up my tandem master, seated directly behind me kept chatting away and giving instructions which again kept my mind from dwelling on the swift approaching moment. We eventually reached 12,000ft and two people jumped out. Here things began to sink in. I realised just how high we were up and how freaking cold it was, and we still kept going up. Now all the clasps and belts get checked and and I get attached to my tandem guy. Hat gets clipped on and goggles go over my eyes. The plane levels out and we shuffle to the opening door. My cameraman has climbed out and is hanging on the side of the plane. I'm now sitting on the edge of the plane, legs tucked under the belly of the plane looking out at the great expanse in front of me. A quick smile at the camera that takes a pic of you just before you jump then its head back, 1, 2, 3 and.........

My first thoughts upon leaving the plane were along the lines of “OHF$%^&INGHELLWHATTHE&^%$AMIDOINGITSXXXXINGHIGHUPICANTBREATHEWHYCANTIBREATHEIMGONNADDDDDIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!” (Good luck reading that) or something like that. Jumping out of a plane tends to make concentrating hard for some reason. The freefall was a complete blur but by looking at the dvd afterwards I was able to remember a couple of things. One was the feeling of impending doom as you plummet very, very, very quickly towards the ground and the other is the struggle to draw breath. I got so scared I forgot how to breathe. We began to level out and the cameraman came over, smiling, and reached out to shake his hand. I’d been told that during the freefall I should focus on him so that I get the most out of the dvd since the camera is in his helmet but when you’re up there the dvd is the least of your worries. There was lots of spinning around and waving at the camera before he backed away and then THUMP! The parachute gets deployed and you suddenly aren’t flying face first towards your death, you start to float quite peacefully. For the first time I was able to take in the scenery. Lake Taupo is bigger than Singapore and at 5,000ft you can see the whole lot plus all the rolling green fields around it and even some mountains in the distance. At this point my heart rate was slowing down a little bit and I remembered how to breathe again but when we started to do some turns my heart did skip a beat as we sped up our descent a fair bit. A couple of minutes floating around and a few turns later and we are approaching to land. Feet up and a nice soft landing and its all over, feet back on terra firma again. As a group all the jumpers then did another piece for the dvd and then it was time to strip off all the gear. At this point I realized I couldn’t hear a damn thing, this would go on to last a full 24 hours. After I had the gear off I went into the video editing room and watched the video of my freefall. I look as terrified as I felt. Then I paid up, got my certificate, dvd, photos and a free t-shirt and it was back on the bus to the hostel.

For the rest of the day I just tried to relax at the hostel as adrenaline was still buzzing around my system and my ears were still not working. Then in the evening I crashed and my body’s immune system crashed with me. The flu set in. I had a bit of a stuffy nose going skydiving but I came back with a full blown case of the flu. Im guessing flying up 15,000ft in an unpressurised plane then dropping the same distance in minutes may have played a part. However I got it I was laid up for the next day and night in Taupo with it. As a result I didn’t see much of the town but it will always be the place I did my (first?) skydive. Totally worth it!

Bad smells and Zorbonauts

The journey to Rotorua began with a stop at Mt Eden in Auckland which is one of many old volcanoes in the region. It also gives a pretty good view over the city. While here our bus driver told us a deadly story about some students who played an April Fools joke on the city's residents. They climbed the mountain in the middle of the night (the night before April fools day) and threw some old couches and tires into the cone of the volcano then set them alight. So the people of Auckland woke up to the sight of black smoke billowing from what they knew was a volcano. It caused widespread panic throughout the city for several hours before somebody realised what day it was and took a walk up. Best April Fools ever! Also on the way to Rotorua was the town of Hobbiton where we took pictures of a Gollum statue and the Hobbiton sign. Apparently with the Hobbit film coming up the place has been rebuilt too. It was afternoon by the time we got to Rotorua and we paid a visit to one of the Maori culture centres for a brief introduction to some Maori folklore as well as visiting a jade factory before we got dropped off at our respective hostels. I was in town for 4 nights (just the way the buses worked out) so I would need to space my activities out. Thus my first night was spent curled up on a couch in the common room with some hot chocolate watching a film courtesy of the hostel.

After a good night's sleep I was ready to see what this little town had to offer. First of all it is a highly geothermal area and there are bubbling mud pools and hot springs all over the place. It also seems to be constantly under a cloud of steam/sulphur which escapes from said geothermal sites. If you are unfamiliar with what sulphur smells like then I can tell you it isnt a pleasant smell, kind of like boiled rotten eggs.... but you get used to it. I got up close and personal with this smell and with the mud and springs as I walked through one of the parks which is full of fenced off areas so you dont fall into the mud and get boiled alive. Not happy with my sulphur dose for the day (or getting used to the smell quite quickly) I took a scenic walk along the lake beside which the town sits and paid a visit to the aptly named 'Sulphur Point'. The smell was quite pungent here so I think im going to be off eggs for quite some time! Later on I paid a visit to the local night market which was small but nice (im spoilt having been to night markets in asia) and chilled out in the hostel for the evening.

Up early the following morning for my big activity day. I booked one of the Maori cultural experiences for that night and set off on a walk to the Redwood Grove here in Rotorua. I followed the directions from reception at my hostel which promptly got me lost. They failed to mention a vital turn..... Supposedly a 45 minute walk it took me several hours to find my way to my destination, the Redwood Visitor Centre. Once I did eventually arrive here they told me there was a bus I could have taken. Oh well I did get a hell of a lot of exercise and a brisk hike through the forest before I found the Giant Redwoods. To be honest it was worth it to see them, they are pretty spectacular trees. After all this walking I got the bus back to town (5 minute trip grrr) just in time to shower and change and get taken out for my Maori culture experience with Te Puia. First off was a tour of the grounds where they gave us a heap of information about the Maori people, their history and heritage and tried to teach us a few bits and pieces. They are very proud of being Maori and happy to share their heritage and beliefs with everyone. We also saw a kiwi and two natural geysers so it was a nice little tour. Then we had a bit of free time before our guide for the night arrived and we began the real cultural experience. First of all he greeted us in Maori (Kia Ora) and informed us all that for the night we would be treated as a tribe visiting his tribe's home. As such we needed a chief to take part in the welcoming ceremonies and assure his tribe we came in peace. Guess who got picked out to be the chief? Only the biggest, most Maori like guy in the group: me..... I guess saying hello back to him at the beginning was the clincher. This meant I had a few duties for the start of the evening. The first of these was to be greeted by a Maori warrior. Basically I stood on the path to their main meeting hall ahead of everyone else and had to stand my ground as this huge Maori guy in full costume charged towards me brandishing a very threatening looking stick. He was basically challenging me if I was there for a fight but by standing still I showed I came in peace. Once he had made his challenge and I made it clear I had no intention of getting the crap kicked out of me he laid a leaf on the ground. I then walked forward (slowly) and picked it up and backed away. Success! Me and my tribe were safe, for now at least. Then we were brought inside the hall and the hosting tribe began a show for us. The sang and danced for one song and then I played the second part of my role as chief. I had to perform the greeting ritual which involves shaking hands while saying “Kia Ora” and then touching our noses together twice. I had to do this with three warriors and then my chief duties were done. Then they performed a couple more songs and dances which are loud, energetic and pretty cheerful. They had to crowd participation moments as well. The girls had a go at using the 'poi' which are basically balls on string and seem to be used in dances and as a way of maintaining hand dexterity. The guys got to try the Haka. This was enormous fun and is trickier than it looks especially the bit where you bulge your eyes and stick your tongue out because you just feel ridiculous. To them it is a statement of “look how big and scary I am”. Once all the performances were done we had our 'Hangi' meal. This is a traditional Maori feast whereby they cook all their food in the ground using steam. This was by far the biggest meal id had in a bloody long time but I felt it was a tad rushed. It was good though. The night was finished off with a visit to the geysers and a cup of hot chocolate. They look superb in the darkness as the bright white of the steam contrasts against the darkness of night. We also sat on the 'hot seat' which is a stone bench heated naturally by the geothermal activity below. All in all it was a really cool way to spend an evening!

My last day in Rotorua began with a visit to the museum which complimented my previous night's adventures quite well as I got more info on the Maori culture of the tribes in the region and some history of the town. Then in the afternoon I paid a visit to the adventure side of town. I had a look at doing something called a 'Schweeb” which is a like a bicycle in a pod hanging from a monorail, but in the end I chose the NZ original: Zorbing. Here I became a zorbonaut which involves climbing into a 12 foot inflatable globe which has some warm water in it and then rolling down a hill. It was mental craic and totally worth it if a bit pricy. Later that evening I relaxed in the hostel's hot tub and got an early night. Next stop Taupo where I would do my skydive!