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When we arrived in Franz Josef, we hopped straight off the bus and into the glacier guide office to be kitted out with some hideous boots and waterproof trousers, as well as crampons! We were then shuttled up to the glacial valley, and walked along the river bed to the glacier (the 5th largest in the world), 2.5km away. There was a rather large 'boom' as we approached it - an ice collapse according to the guides, and sure enough a few chunks of ice appeared in the river. That injected a bit of adrenaline into the adventure! We arrived at the glacier and strapped on our crampons and started our ice climbing! Our intrepid guide Matt led the way with his pick-axe, carving out steps to make the ascent really rather easy... Up on the glacier, we discovered a blue ice cave which we clambered down into - it was very cold, but pretty awesome! The views of the glacier, the surrounding mountains and the valley were also really good. After a couple of hours of ice time, we were on our way back to the town and a good night's sleep!
The next day we had a mammoth coach journey over to Queenstown, via Lake Matheson (aka Mirror Lake), which was very pretty but not quite postcard perfect as Mount Cook (which it usually provides a perfect reflection of) was obscured by cloud, and the water was rippling. The bus journey did seem to go on forever (8am to 6.30pm), but we eventually spotted the Remarkables Mountain Range and Queenstown. The next day the others went off to throw themselves out of a pod (I will never bungy jump) and I aquainted myself with Queenstown - it was very pretty in the sunshine, albeit rather chilly (the wind is deadly). Yesterday we headed over to Milford Sound, twisting along through the mountains (really spectacular views) and listening to the nearly constant commentary of the driver. We stopped off at some really gorgeous places along the way, including Mirror Lakes (completely different from Lake Matheson apparently), k*** Flats and the entrace to Homer Tunnel. The drive through the tunnel was surprisingly pretty as there were lots of iciles hanging from the ceiling and walls - it looked like an Aladdin's cave! Once we reached Milford Sound, we cruised around the fiord for a couple of hours admiring the stunning mountains, the waterfalls and the one lonesome fur seal.
Today we were planning on going for a walk around the lake, but it is raining and we are fair-weather walkers, so we are spending a bit of time in town and checking out the Underwater Observatory. There's fresh snow on the mountains behind our hostel, so we are hoping the rain eases up a bit before we hitch a ride on the gondola to frolick in the snow and check out the view!
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