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We survived!!!! We have just had the most unbelievable few days of our lives. Lets start with the ice climbing...The weather thankfully cleared up which meant we could actually see where we were going and the glacier was breathtaking. No one likes a geek but its been estimated that the glacier is made up of around 14 million tonnes of ice which is constantly moving forwards, wow!!!! The day started with a pretty steep climb through the rainforest (Fox glacier is one of a very small number of glaciers that cuts its path through the middle of rainforest). The walk was made harder by the wetsuits we were wearing and Gem, who started the day with a smile on her face, stopped smiling pretty quickly - oh dear!!! Anyway we battled on and then headed on up the face of the glacier. After tramping about getting used to wearing crampons we climbed up to a point where we could start the ice climbing for real. Finding walls to climb was a challenge because the glacier changes so quickly that a wall can be there one day and gone the next, reassuring hey! Anyway we found one and off we went. After a bit of a slow start and a few tears and swearwords Gem discovered that she wasnt bad at all and she really got into it. I loved it from the word go and despite being a man mountain scaled all the walls like a monkey (or another more appropriate climbing animal). We spent hours on the glacier and at times we even heard ice quakes underneath us which is where different parts of the glacier grind again each other, uh oh!!!! We didnt get down off the glacier until late afternoon and even then the fun hadnt stopped. The ridiculous rainfall over the previous few days had taken its toll on the glacier and as we reached its base we actually saw enormous pieces of ice falling off the glacier face and crashing into the river below. It was the most spectacular thing I think we've ever seen. What a day! Oh also we met a girl on our trip called Becca who was hitchiking around the country so we agreed to take her with us to our next destination - Wanaka.
After the ice climbing we all set off to Wanaka, Phil, Gem and Becca in one van and our travelling buddies Jamie and Natalie in another. We stopped for the night in Haast, dont go its rubbish. The next day we made it to Wanaka and the weather was perfect. Gem decided she wanted to buy a holiday house there and i don't blame her, it was beautiful. Given the beautiful scenery and the great weather we decided it would be a good place to throw ourselves out of a plane. So we went and booked it, which meant that I spent the rest of the day in a very nervous state, Gem was fine which made me look like a right jess!!! At 10am the following morning we were at Wanaka airfield kitted up and ready to jump. We were doing 12,000 foot tandem jumps which meant we had a jumpmaster strapped to our backs. Sounds reassuring doesnt it? Well it does until you have a look at my jump photos, my jumpmaster looked like a teenage version of Paul Scholes, great! The flight up was brilliant and we could see right out to Mount Cook and Tasman but we weren't exactly in the mood for sightseeing. Joking aside the jumpmasters were great and made us very relaxed which is just as well because when we reached 12,000 feet the door opened and out we went. Its difficult to put the sensation of freefalling into words, mindblowing is probably the best I can do. We fell at about 120mph for 45 seconds then the chute opened and we spent the next 5 minutes floating about above beautiful lakes and snowcapped mountains. I'll give you 3 guesses what colour Gems parachute was, thats right bright pink! The adrenalin rush we both got was amazing and we were high as kites for pretty much the rest of the day. Adrenalin is definitely addicitve. Once back on dry land we headed into town to book our next death-defying adventure. We chose river surfing which is basically white water rafting but instead of rafts you use body boards which are mini surfboards. I think its definitely up there with the most stupid things that we've ever done, the river flung us around all over the place and when we finally reached our destination, 6km downstream from where we started, a bus picked us up and took us back to the start to do it all again! Really good fun but I got massive cramp in one leg so I was battered about all over the place and Gem discovered about 30 seconds too late that going for a wee in a wetsuit isnt a great idea, haha!
I think that pretty much concludes our fun and games over the past few days. The plan is to go to Milford Sound tomorrow where the scenery is apparently stunning but the downside is that we may find ourselves blinded by flashes from the guaranteed swarms of amateur Japanese photographers. Never mind, i'm sure it will be worth it. Hope everyone is well. Over and out x
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