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Wow what a day! This morning we had a lie-in, our alarms didn't go off until 9.00am, although Laura kept waking up in the night thinking that there must be something we have to get up early for! Once up. delighted with the lovely weather for a change, and ready we enjoyed a big breakie before heading into the town ready for our Helihike!
We checked in at the glacier centre and after a brief delay we were taken across the road to the helicopter landing sites to be booted up and given our rain jackets. Before we new it we were boarding the helicopter, Sarah in the front and Laura by a window in the back. We had a 10 minute scenic flight over Franz Josef Glacier and the beautiful mountainous surroundings, even seeing as far as the Tasman Sea. We landed on the glacier and were stunned by the ruggedness and beauty. The ice was so dense that it appeared a beautiful sky blue colour, gorgeous in comparison to much of the lush green rainforest surroundings. After doning our crampons, so we didn't slip, we enjoyed 2 hours hiking around the glacier, discovering crevasses and ice caves and taking lots of pictures! The time flew by and soon it was time for our second helicopter ride of the day back to the Franz Josef village, again taking in amazing views of the glacier and the village.
Back on solid ground we headed back to the Rainforest Retreat around 4.00pm and enjoyed sweet and sour pork and a bit of a chill out before our second amazing experience of the day.
We were picked up just after 6.00pm and headed towards Fox Glacier for our second ever sky-dive! It was a 20 minuted drive to the airstrip and we had a rushed briefing before being the first two sent up in the tiny plane. Again we enjoyed a scenic flight, this time encompassing the Fox Glacier and New Zealands highest two mountains - Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. Once at 12000 feet Sarah was first to dangle out of the plane before free-falling for 45 seconds - this time remembering to open her mouth and smile! Laura soon followed and we both enjoyed the amazing setting, even managing to take pictures from the air with our own cameras! Both landings were smooth with Sarah landing on her feet and Laura on her bum (intentionally!). We were taken back to the airstrip to watch our dvds and wait for the others before being taken back to the hostel around 9.30pm to recover from an awesome day and get ready for tomorrows departure.
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