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Greymouth to Franz Josef - Wednesday 7th & Thursday 8th December 2011.
After a rather slow 11am start and a second coach jump start for the week, we're finally on our way to Franz Josef and the Rain forest retreat hostel for a half day glacier walk. This was a half day walk up onto the Franz Josef glacier which took a good 4 hours, up some tough inclines and made that little bit easier with snow crampons.
Upon arriving at the base centre we were kitted up for the day in a somewhat formal and regimented way, before being bussed to the bottom of the glacier floor to meet our somewhat fit guide.
The walk started off well, but no sooner has we started the rain set upon us. Luckily Team Reem spirits were high, and a quick look up and down of our guide was enough to sort me out (9/10) ;-)
I was really up for this walk and had high expectations. Lucky it did not disappoint! Some of my pictures really capture the stunning blue glow from the ice, which incidentally is down to the fact that all other light particles are not strong enough to penetrate the ice, hence blue is the strongest colour (fact or fiction? Who knows, but I'm believing it).
Once back at the hostel there was enough time to take advantage of the hot water pools (Georgie has incidentally grown very fond of the couple the promotional posters) and a few drinks at the Monsoon bar.
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