how's my drinking?

Unfortunately the past few days have been in patchy internet areas, so here’s a synopsis (big word, hey?!!) . . . 

Sunday Sug 29^th:

Our second day in chilly Franz Joseph was a full day…Hiking the FJ Glacier!

 We literally got kitted out in snow boot + crampons, chunky socks, waterproof trousers and jacket, hat and shades. The walk to the base of the glacier was just under a mile, followed by some serious hiking and squeezing!!

The glacier changes quite swiftly from ’smooth fresh’ ice to heavily compacted ice formed into crevices – some were about 12 times our height and we had to go through them sideways with backpack over one shoulder! Oh yeah, and it was cold the ice!!

From the base we hiked up to almost 2500ft above sea level where there was a great view of white: white ice, white snow, white clouds!!

Some of the ice-steps were a good knee-height which meant plenty of acheing limbs for the next couple of days; and in fact one of the crevices was so low we had to go through on hands and knees, which sounds easy enough, but ice also has a tendancy to be wet and slippery, meaning one foot forward, one foot back in some places!

That was one amazing day, esp as Jane is not that mad on heights!

Aug 30^th – Wanaka on a Monday >>

Now this was one beautiful little town, right on a lake side. Even better if one was a skiier, as thats all this town exists for! The hostel was a good one with some seriously dodgy karaoke that night (fortunately Mike didnt get a

 song!!), although it was an early night as we had a 4hour drive south the next day.

31^st August, Tuesday… this was a fairly long journey day, with us both being able to smirk somewhat at those with hangovers!! First stop was the Wanaka Puzzling World! A rather quirky, yet amusing, one-off place with all sorts of visual effects, trickery, optical illusions, games, puzzles and a 2-storey maze!!

A lot of 3D stuff and a really bizarre tilted room where water went uphill, you stood upright but at an angle etc etc!!, and a room where you were tall at one end and small the other! Apparently Peter Jackson used these effects in “Lord of the bloody Rings” ( we call it that because practically everything on South Island has something to do with that boring film!! )

From there it was a straight drive to Queenstown: “Adventure Capital of the World” . . .

. . . arrived here with enough time to check in (took about 3/4hr!) and get settled in. Settling-In started in the hostel bar at 830pm with cheap drinks and ‘pub-games’!! From there up to the ‘world-famous’ World Bar, which serves cocktails in teapots for sharing!! We all got 100 free drinks to get us started – about 4 each!!

Wednesday First of September: As expected plenty of hangovers for

 another long day ahead! A full 12hour trip to the country’s best beauty spot, Milford Sound and Mitre Peak. Well it would have beautiful had it not been raining and covered with clouds! So the coach journey was long and the boat trip on the Sound (actually a flooded fjord) was wet…but we did get to an underwater observatory where we could see the sealoife up close…was a bit wierd though as we both realized that we were the ones in the “Human-arium” as the fish were free to swim around, and it was us behind perspex!!

Second of September, a Thursday. A slow day. Well, for Mike anywho!

 As snow-sports and Mike don’t mix, and Jane has always wanted to give snowboarding a try, it is Jane today being the adventurous one, taking snowboarding lessons and having a ‘day on the slopes’ !! That has given Me, Mike, a day at the laptop getting Facebook and our website updated!! As it turned out the server was having a wash and brush-up so was offline. Went for a walk instead!

Tonight was spent on the hostel’s locally-famous Big Night Out pub crawl… 10 bars, 6 drinks, pizza and all for $20 each.! Deal, or what?!!