Monday 6th April
Today we got up really early to go on our Glacier Hike. We had to walk to the collection point, so we all got soaked! Once we were inside the Glacier Hike Centre place thingy, we were told that the Hike had been cancelled – it had rained so much that it wasn’t safe to go on the Hike. Obviously I was distraught... I was really looking forward to spending an entire day in pain as I tried to climb a massive block of ice. Not really, I was actually quite glad that it was called off, it would have been nice to say that I had climbed a Glacier, but I think I might have killed me. Literally. Once we received our refund we went back to the hostel, went on the internet for a bit and then took a shuttle bus to the Glacier. Basically it drops you off near the Glacier and there are a few scenic walks you can go on. One of the walks takes you quite close to the Glacier, so you can get a few good pictures, but the path ends and there are a bunch of signs telling you that you shouldn’t try get any closer to the Glacier. If you are super cool, like us, then you ignore these signs and you decided to get a bit closer to the Glacier.
Once we climbed over the fence we had to cross a few rivers, which was actually fine – for Glacier water it was quite nice! We then had to walk for a while – I don’t really know how to describe the terrain, I guess it’s sort of a valley floor/river bed, so it’s got the whole sand/alluvial silt thing going on and there were also a lot of rocks. Maybe you should just look at the pictures... We walked for a while, crossed the river some more and then came to another fence, which we didn’t cross, because this fence looked like it meant business. There were signs depicting certain death if you went past this fence, sort of. The sign actually said “Danger. Access beyond this point is unsafe for inexperienced or unguided parties, due to hazards such as steep drops, slippery and unstable surfaces.” We then took a few pictures, which you should look at, there quite good – my favourites include the four of us (Jess, Josh, Pete and myself) doing the “Pete’s Pose” (legs up) and then all the pictures of us licking/eating a chunk of ice. We probably shouldn’t have been doing that – we are now directly responsible for melting part of Franz Josef Glacier! On our way back to meet the shuttle we decided to go for a swim, by “we” I actually mean everyone, except for me. I love swimming, it’s probably one of my favourite things to do, but I’ve stood under enough freezing waterfalls on this trip so I gave it a miss and took some pictures instead! Once everyone was sufficiently frozen we got the shuttle back to the Hostel and decided to go to the Hot Pools! Mmmm! Such a good decision! It was $22.00 for the entire day, so we all went in and spent a few hours in the Hot Pools, which I have done before, but I think these pools might have been even nicer! There were 3 different pools which were all different temperatures – 36c, 38c and 40c – which is actually quite toasty! I think I’ve already talked about how going to the Hot Pools is like having a huge bath with a bunch of randomers – except this time the randomers were my friends :)
After our Hot Pool adventure we went to the shops and bought supplies for dinner. When you’re on your own it’s really hard to make decent meals, it’s too expensive, too time consuming and you have to buy large quantities of food, even if you only want a small meal, so Pete and I decided to share the dinner responsibilities. But we didn’t actually share them, because Pete bought everything and then he cooked everything and then he washed up... So really, I sat and ate his food. Gina, eating someone else’s food, no surprises there. But what was a surprise was how good the food actually was! I was amazed! It was probably the best Spaghetti Bolognese (I have no idea how to spell either of those words) I have ever had! Sorry Mumsie, but it was seriously good – I actually didn’t want to stop eating, even though I was full. So yummy. Pete added some Green Peppers, which I was quite sceptical about, but they were amazing, oh my life, I am getting excited even thinking about it! Right, focus Gina. After I had consumed vast quantities of pasta we decided to go back to the Hot Pools, with some, beverages! Pete purchased some of New Zealand’s finest wine/a box of goon and filled up a few water bottles with the wine and we all headed back – it’s actually really nice to go to Hot Pools at night and it was nice because we were a much smaller group. We stayed there for a good few hours, talking, swimming, having knee races and doing handstands – all the great things in life really. Don’t worry friends, I haven’t started drinking – it’s just like when you see me carrying Andy’s Kopparberg around, it’s for decorational purposes only! Also, apparently “decorational” isn’t actually a word, which is quite a surprise, I use it on a regular basis, well not a regular basic but I have definitely used it before. The thesaurus suggests that I use words like ornamentation, embellishment, adornment or beautification. But I’ll just stick to decorational. Thanks.
xx
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