Friday 20th March

Crevasse in the glacier

Me coming out of the tunnel

Us on the neve of the Fox glacier during our helicopter ride

The neve of the fox glacier with the alps at the rear.

Andrew in front of our helicopter on the neve of Fox glacier.

Mt Tasman during our helicopter flight

Our pilot with the glacier in the background

The neve of the Franz Josef Glacier

The Franz Josef Glacier from the air

The Franz Josef Glacier

Andrew at the Franz Josef Glacier lookout

Franz Josef Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier from one of the viewpoints on our walk

Frans Josef glacier reflected in Peter's Pool

Had a HUGE day on the glaciers today - so much fun!!!!

Started off with a couple of walks in the morning around Franz Josef Glacier to see some impressive views. Then at 1100 we went for a helicopter ride around both Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers including a landing on the Neve of the Fox Glacier - this was sooooo much fun and definitely the highlight of the trip so far. We would higly recommend a heli-ride if you are ever at the glaciers the views of both the valleys and the glaciers were amazing and you get a really good impression of just how huge they are from up there.

When we arrived back in FJ we booked an afternoon 1/2 day walk on the glaciers leaving a 1500. So we had a bit of time to have lunch and book back into the campground for the night, before we walked back to the Franz Josef Glacier Guides office. We got all our gear - boots, socks, crampons and raincoats and then boarded the bus for the short trip out to the glacier. We then had to walk for about 45 mins to the glacier face before putting on our crampons and walking onto the glacier. We had two guides for our group of 26 assorted tourists from all over the world - Andrew and I were the only Kiwi's - Dale and Bryce (who was from Hastings originally!). We walked on the glacier for about two hours including squeezing through cravasses and tunnels with our guides cutting steps as we went. We left the glacier at about 1900, and again walked the 45mins back to the bus and back to the village.


Back in FJ we had some of the best Indian we have ever had as Priya Indian Restaurant before collapsing into bed at about 10pm absolutely buggered!