Franz Josef Glacier climbing and Queenstown (The beginning)

Hello Hello from the chilly land down under. Well it's not really the land down under but it is kind of under most of you reading this, and believe me, it's chilly. Especially if you consider the things I've done.

Saturday, June 6

We left Berrytown, which was the place I was in when I made my last blog and had no idea where we were. Really it was just a couple of houses, this one hostel and a beach. That night many people drank, while I had to bat of the smelly possum killing local. My bus mates were not helping either. Oh man did he smell. I sometimes feel his smell is just stuck some where in my nose and I get whiffs of him every once in a while. Gross!!!

So yes we left Berrytown to go to the Pancake rocks. These are rocks that as they have formed, they appear to be in layers giving them the slightest appearance of pancakes. To be honest I didn't see the pancakes, but it was still really cool. We were along the Tasmanian Sea which is a very rough sea. So the waves hitting the rocks was so impressive.

Later in the day we made it down to Bushmount Peats where we learned all about the deer hunting here. First it was necessary since the deer just over ran the country, which tells you a lot since deer are not native here. They were brought by white man about 200 years ago. Well, they got to a point of killing too many deer that they had to create a system involving a helicopter, a net gun and a very very brave man. They would fly right over the deer, shoot the net onto it, then the man would jump out of the moving helicopter onto the deer, where he would tie it up so they could fly it to farm. This place also had a great sense of humor. The weather forcast basically said, [we believe it's supposed to be sunny, but don't ask us, we have no time. It's your vacation. If you really want to know, find out yourself.] Ok I guess it's funnier if you read the whole thing. They also had some live possums. Why?? Who knows, it's just what they do.

That night we made it to Franz Joseph, where most of us just crashed. It had been a long day and we were all going to be doing some kind of activity the next day.

Sunday, June 7

This morning 5 of us went to go climb a glacier. This was another thing I had really been looking forward to doing. We just don't have glaciers around us, so just even the fact that I was getting to see one was impressive. When you look at the glacier it really just looks like a bunch of snow on the side of the mountain. It's not until you get up onto the ice, that you realize it's a really really thick layer of ice all the way up. Everyone said that the best way to see the glaciers was to do the helicopter ride, but who can really afford that, plus, I can see photos of that. Photos can't create the feeling of climbing up the glacier. Since it was a glacier it is always moving. In fact, it moves about 1 meter a day. Since it is moving, our guide had to carve out steps for us at times. In fact, at lunch he ran off to create a whole new path. We got to see crevices that I had difficulty getting through they were so skinny. There were caves and tunnels. We even got to do a bit of ice climbing out of one. Some how I managed to get out of that hole by getting my feet up first. Who knows how that happens. Hopefully someone has photos of that.

The two best parts to climbing this glacier were the pure blue ice that we saw and the perfect blue pool. This water was so pure that we all filled up our water bottles and had fresh glacier water. Oh it was amazing.

After our glacier climb we all took a nice warm dip in the sauna. The only problem with this sauna is that it was outside, so you had to freeze to get to it and freeze even more to get back to your room. Luckily they had warm shows, unlike our last place.

Monday, June 8

This was just a long drive to Makaroa, with many stops along the way. We stopped in Fox Glacier at Lake Matason which is really impressive, because the minerals that flow into cause it to do perfect reflections of the trees and mountains. After that we stopped at Knights point where we finally got our first clear sunny day view of the ocean. We also got to run out to the ocean, where if we were daring enough could put our feet in the Tasmanian Sea. I was not the brave. Towards the end of the day we stopped at two different water falls. The second one was more memorable because, the way that the rocks have formed and the way that the water fall falls, if you stare at the water fall for about a minute then focus on the rocks, it looks like the rocks are stretching up. It was so trippy. I loved how one guy said that he used to pay a lot of money to get that feeling and I said that, "This is why I never had to pay money for that feeling. There are enough chances to get it for free."

Tuesday, June 9

We stopped in Wanaka because a lot of people wanted to go sky diving. The rest of us got to play for two hours in Puzzle world. This was a whole place that had mind teasers, things to getting you thinking, things that mess with your head and illusions. There was a whole room that was on a slop but other things were slopped the other way, then you had to try to get your brain to wrap around the fact that things could roll up hill, or when you jumped in the room why you would move. There was another room that if you stood at one side you looked tiny and the other side you looked like a giant. The best part though way the maze. I was thinking this maze was going to be silly because it doesn't look that large, but wow it really messed with our heads. We some how broke into two groups. Freddy and I were one group and Ian and Anna were the other. Ian and Anna totally won the maze, but Freddy and I just cheated and exited one of the do not exit doors.

After that we went to the home of the AJ Hackett Bungy Jump site. This was the bridge that was the first commercial Bungy Jumping ever. This, however, was not the tallest in NZ. Some how I found myself signing up to do the tallest, The Neivs, with Anna, Freddy and Ian. I am crazy. For real for real, never again. But I'll get into that when it happened.

Once we got to Queenstown I had a few things to get together. I had to for one get a new camera. Up on Franz Josef my small camera decided to stop working and they would not be able to get it fixed. I also had to make my plans for after Queenstown since I was breaking off from the bus, intending to go to Doubtful Sounds. In the meantime I heard about a rugby match in Dunedin (Doo.nee.din) with the "All Blacks". They are THE team to watch, at least in NZ. When that happens I'll tell you all about it.

This night was the night to go out. We started at a pizza place, sort of as a "this is the end of our journeys together" thing. Of course it then turned into, "who can get the most drunk". I don't ever want to hear that it's always Americans who go traveling and make a fool of themselves because they are always getting trashed. I've have seen more people from every where get more trashed than any of the Americans. Of course I know I'm an exception, but still. I did have fun going out dancing. It's not typical for me, but I had a lot of fun. Of course I called it and "early night". at 2:00am.

Wednesday, June 10

This was my day to make a great leap. 1:00pm We went down to the
AJ Hackett place in town to check in, then we were on a bus going up to the tallest Bungy in NZ. The tallest in the world is in Japan which is more than double what the Nevis is. Crazy people. This jump is the one that I'm sure most of you have seen. It is suspended on these wires and you have to go out to the pod. There are just canyons all around with a tiny little river underneath. It was the scariest thing ever to see. I won't lie, I cried. They got me all strapped up and as I was getting out of the chair to go to the edge I freaked out. The guy was able to get me to the edge and the fear just made me freak. Then he told me to look straight out and as he counted down all brain cells went dead and I jumped, screaming bloody murder the whole way down. It really wasn't until my ride up did I start to cry. It was just like all fear turned into tears. They were because of relief and joy and fear all in one. Just because of all the work it took to get me to jump I got the video. It will be fantastic to look back on.

That night we decided to do something unique and went to an Ice bar. It was a tiny little bar, where they dress you up in all kinds of warm cloths because it is -5 degress inside. Everything is made of ice, ever the seats and the glasses. Of course it was meant for you to have a cocktail, but I had juice. It was yummier and I got two. Then right next door was the boiler room. So we went from cold to hot. It really was quite unique.

Well a small group of us that are still left in Queenstown and will go to the All Blacks are going to go up the mountain and have a little fun.

I miss all of you!!

Cheers from Queenstown!!