What a "cool" experience!

Yesterday we had to be up pretty early to go on a half-day glacier hike on the Franz Josef Glacier. We got up at around 7:30 a.m., got ready and headed to a restaurant to pick up a chicken sandwich to bring along for lunch.
We were signed up for an 8:45, 4 hour long hike. These people do guided tours all the time and were quite organized. The whole group of us got a bunch of tags: a blue one to pick up our rain jacket with, a red one to pick up our “over trousers” and a yellow one for a hat and a pair of gloves (which are usually used in the winter). They recommended you wear a lot of layers, so I had four on…not a good choice for someone who sweats very easily haha It gets chilly up in the glacier and it was supposed to rain which is why we got the coat and jacket (it ended up not raining so that was good). We also got a pair of boots and “clampers”, which is like spikes so we could walk on the ice and not slip, which would not have been something I would have liked to do.
We all got on a bus to drive out towards the glacier and I honestly did not know what to expect! I was going to walk on a glacier…in summer? Not typical. We got off the bus and walked on a path through trees and reached a big valley filled with rocks and rock “dust” as they call it (it looks like sand basically). The Glacier was directly in front of us, and seemed quite close until one of our guides, Nick, told us that the Glacier is actually 2 and a half kilometers away (I THINK that is like a little over a mile…I’m still trying to figure out how to convert all the stuff over here to what I understand haha) but it’s pretty far. He said the valley is so vast and large that the glacier seems much closer than it is. We were then split into groups, group 1 would be going fast, group 2 was the middle paced group, and group three was the slower one who consisted of people who wanted to take lots of pictures. I thought my mom would want to be in group 3, but surprisingly she opted for group 2 where our guide was Dean. After we separated, we still had to walk to the glacier, so Dean lead groups 1 and 2 ahead but half of our group, including my mom and I, go separated because he headed up into this forest area above the rock below but we didn’t see him take the turn. We were ditched basically. I’m not sure if Dean realized but Nick and the slower group saw us and took us to the Glacier. As we were learning to put our “clamps” onto our boots, Dean walked up and we joined up with him again. He didn’t say anything about us being left behind…guess we weren’t missed! After we got our stuff on we had some time to kill because another group was going up the carved out steps, but had stopped while their guide hacked at the ice to give them more of a step. These guides are constantly making pathways with these big ice pick things that they carry around. It’s crazy. So we went around and said our names and where we were from. Our group had a lot of variety! There was a couple from Holland, another couple where the woman was from Germany and the man from Switzerland, 2 friends who were from Sweden, a couple from England and Dean who was from the U.K. We were the only Americans in our smaller group! It was cool to have so many people from all around the world. New Zealand seriously has so many different people from everywhere that come and travel. You meet people from all over. It is really neat. To be honest, we haven’t met that many Americans here that I thought was kind of surprising.
We eventually started our trek up the glacier, first going up these really steep steps of ice, then going over a really seep hill of rocks that were formed by the glacier moving forwards and backwards (it melts and rebuilds all the time). We finally got to the actual glacier where we went into some crevasses that were so sweet. You were just surrounded by walls of ice! The ice was a very cool blue in some places, which I wasn’t really expecting. We hiked for a while then stopped at a flat part to take some pictures and have some lunch. But, Dean got us moving real quick and it wasn’t much time to eat. Our descent back down was kind of tough because a lot of people were afraid of slipping and some of the rock was very flimsy. We did survive surprisingly enough. You can breathe a sigh of relief. Our hike back through the valley was rough. I was HOT. I had so many layers on and was sweating like a pig. It was gross and I felt gross. That was probably the worst part! Everyone was hot and uncomfortable but I suppose it was worth it to have the layers on the glacier. Another work out for me! Hiking is tough work around here so I’m hopefully burning a good amount of calories ☺
After we got back to town we headed to the “4” supermarket (supermarkets here are really small here compared to ones back home) and got some snacks for the 5 hour drive to Christchurch. We also bought some really cool jewelry! My mom buying a really cool ring and I got a little necklace with a kiwi (the national bird and why the people are called “kiwi’s” here) and the paua stone making up the middle. That stone is everywhere here. It’s really pretty and is made up of blues, greens and turquoises…perfect for me!
Our 5 hour drive was long but the scenery was gorgeous as always and my mom has been getting faster and faster behind the wheel so it was all good! Being back in Christchurch has caused our trip to come full circle and my traveling to come to a halt for the time being. I’m starting orientation on February 11th so I’ll be in Christchurch for a little while! We drove by the University today and checked out the outside of the apartments and where they are. I can’t believe I’m going to be moving in there really REALLY soon. It’s crazy.
Alright, well next time you hear from me you’ll be hearing all about SCHOOL. Weird!