Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The week started with a trek up Fox glacier, a unique glacier due to its proximity to both rainforest and the coast, all squashed into a 30km stretch. Rach in particular had been looking forward to this, having studied glaciers during university. Walking up at the front of the group exchanging glacier related terminology like a right glacier geek "look at that amazing moraine"' "oh wow check out that fantastic accumulation zone".
It was good to see the transformation from scared 'last in the group to do it' to 'gun-hoe' leader, as she strapped the crampons (ice-picks for the feet) to her boots and went about jumping from ice wall to ice wall (there was a good set of carved ice steps which she chose to ignore) with a ludicrous smile on her face. Personally I think she looked rather mental!
We moved onto a place called Greymouth, staying in an off the route family run campsite. This place was just plain weird, a set straight out of a horror film, where all the residents were text book serial killer types. The owners (a large lady that sat in her garden shed seemingly unable to move; and her toothy, mustached, mute husband, proper rednecks) had put up aggressive signs on every available wall space, screaming at you to "WASH YOUR HANDS!!", "FLUSH THE TIOLET!!" and the most bizarre "MOP THE SHOWER AFTER USE, YOU ARE ON CCTV". The guests staying there weren't any better either, all of them seemed to have been involved in some kind industrial chemical disaster. We made sure that the doors were locked on the van that night.
Taking to the road again we drove up the west coast passing 'Pancake Rocks', a formation of rocks piled on top of each other that geologist have yet to explain how they came to be. We stopped in Nelson a town at the top of the South Island for a couple of nights during which time, I'm excited to say, I bought some amazing George Micheal 'Club Tropicana' skin tight, thigh length, bright salmon coloured beach shorts. This has meant that at anytime whilst wearing them I have been prone to bursting out into a medley of 80's summer time pop classics.
Heading further north up to Abel Tasman National Park we spent two days on a secluded rainforest beach. It was a great couple days, the only down side being the hippies we were forced to share the campsite with. These guys stayed up all night playing band guitar and singing hippy songs. At one point I was tempted to whack my shorts on and go try and teach them 'wake me up before you go go' But thought better of if, concluding that with these incredible trunks on they may think I was from the future, and you don't want to go scaring hippies they never get over it.
- comments
Jemma Johnson Hey! I reckon you're probably on the last leg of your travels by now - it has just whizzed by!!! It all sounds super exciting! The short shorts sound very 'cool'! I'm sure you look great, thousands wouldn't. Yeah, we did have an OFSTED. Happened about 4 or 5 weeks ago now. It went well. The idea of it was so much worse than the actuality of it...glad it's all over though! Hope you are both keeping well. Glad Rachel was in her element with the glacial mountaineering. Hope she put you in your place with a few facts. Still loving the anecdotes. Take care xxxx