slept in this morning because i could. it just felt nice to get a full rest. had a late breakfast and walked the short distance to the office to pay for our heli-hike on franz josef glacier. then walked across the street to get geared up and get in the helicopter. the company provides socks and boots. they have other things like hats, gloves, and waterproof jackets but it's a warm day and i was layered enough. a lot of people had hats but i seemed to be the only person who used gloves (my own). hey, i didn't want to get frozen hands.

helicopter ride

the helicopter ride was cool because i had never been on one before. the glacier didn't look too spectacular from above, but once i saw people i was able to understand the scale of the thing. it's massive! the cracks in the ice i saw must have been caverns. amazing. we're going to hike this thing?!?! we get down to the ground and put on ice talons for a firm grip on the ice. we are also given ice axes. now i'm ready!

armed and dangerous

the hike wasn't so bad in terms of physical demands. everyone met with a step or two where they had difficulty but otherwise it was alright. it's always awkward to walk in unfamiliar shoes though there were no disasters. there are little streams of water flowing from the glacier melting. some pools of water as well. we saw some nuts who looked like they were going to take a dip. they were undressing and just staring at the water, too chicken to go through with it after all. this was towards the end of the walk and i didn't want to lag behind so i didn't stand around gawking at them all day to see if they ever did go in the water.

hiking the glacier

the heli-hike was really awesome. well worth the money spent. normally it is $300 but we got the kiwi experience price of $285. pretty cool. it's one of the best things we've done in new zealand. by the way, franz josef is the steepest commercially guided glacier. however we bypassed the steep part by taking the helicopter ride up.

franz josef is a small town