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I've learnt some things in Franz Josef. One is about glaciers and how cold they can be, i.e. freezing. The other is that if you sleep on a bottom bunk, you run the risk of someone pissing on your bed while you sleep. More on that later.
My morning started off when I was still drunk, waiting for a hangover to come along. I think it finally did when we got to the weirdest "attraction" in New Zealand, the Bushman Centre. Dedicated to ridding the country of possums and explaining how deer hunting became deer farming, this place is a breath of un-PC fresh air. It didn't do much for my hangover, but it was a bit of fun. We arrived at Franz Josef glacier and it was a sunny day.
And now the best bit of the day. I won the costume competition and got a free canyon swing! Woo! The only thing I have to do now is throw myself off a cliff. That's a good thing...
The next day was grey, and by the time we'd been geared up to do the full day glacier climb it was raining steadily. The glacier was bloody cold! I joined group one so I climbed first and the idea was to keep warm. In reality we had to wait for Tubs, our guide, to hack steps out of the glacier and make it safe for us. Walking with crampons was cool and the glacier was incredible. We had to squeeze through the tightest crevices and caves in amazing blue ice, though in freezing conditions. The rain was cold but it eroded the glacier and left it really clean. The crevice I'd squeezed through in the morning was wide enough for two people when we returned. My boots were soaked and my feet were freezing but I had a great time. The hostel's hot tub was so welcome at the end of the day!
The next day was a spare day where I basically jumped in the hot tub and lazed around for a lot of the day. I also spent a lot of it hanging various soaked clothes near the radiator and getting them dry. Not much else happened. Hmmm. Not the most climactic end to any of my blog entries...
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