Monday 11th February 2019 - Franz Josef glacier

You know, there are some days you just wonder what on earth you are doing. Today was one of those days for me!

We had to be up at 6.15 to get ourselves sorted, help with the communal breakfast and packing up of lunches, take down our tents, pack a day pack, plus our big rucksacks, then load the trailer ready to leave at 8.00. We then had an hours drive to the start of our hike at Frank Josef.

Our hike today turned out to be the hardest on the tour, or so we have now been told!! About 12km with over 600m of both ascent and descent, most of it in forest. On paper we know we can do that with no real problem. The trouble was no-one had told us about the terrain! It was pretty much uphill all the way (obviously 😉), no nice level bits, with some steep sections, some involving scrambling over rocks and hanging onto tree roots for assistance. Then there was a nasty long climb over bare rock. Not so bad going up, but you know you have to come back down! Of course there are all these young people, and some not so young!, going either up or down with complete ease. It’s just not fair! Then there were the 4 swing bridges which are always a bit interesting. One of them was getting on for 100yards across. All of a sudden you get to where you are going. The viewpoint. You come out of the forest, a blessing on yet another clear, sunny day, climb some wooden steps onto a platform and as you turn around you have the might of the Franz Josef glacier in front of you. All worth it. You could not have got that view any other way.

I’m not going to bore you with the details of the return journey. 2hours 45minutes of downhill slog, most of which I considered to be hideous!

By this time it was gone 3 and Adrienne, our guide, had to drive us further south to Mount Aspiring National Park and the tiny settlement of Makarora. She has some long days on top of the responsibility. Magan, who had also been with us had returned to her job in the office yesterday. The joy was of a log cabin, bed and shower block. Plus a restaurant to buy a meal. No cooking!