Franz Josef and Queenstown

We loved making the knives in Barrytown, but keen to get back out in hopefully good weather to do some more activities. So we did, starting in Franz Josef.

After a light evening on arrival in Franz, we got up at a silly hour of the morning to check in to the full day hike of Franz Josef glacier. The seven or eight hours took us through a bit of a bush walk, up some rocky terrain and finally on to the glacier itself. We were kitted out with hiking boots and "Ice Talonz", essentially metal teeth to attach to your boots, adding capability of walking on ice without slipping (although we all managed to do it along the way somewhere). Our guide took us through little ice squeezes (which I needed a little help to get through from Miss Brown), little ice caves, under towering ice walls and over quite large crevasses. Crevasses large enough to make you a little nervous when trying to jump over them and land on your feet, not slipping and falling on your arse.

Queenstown, the prettiest town in New Zealand, also a bit of a party scene. Our first night saw us sample the night life and watch Dee do her moves at subculture - skills girl. After being escorted out of a casino and bouncers keeping an eye on a certain someone, however, we vacated our hostel club and ventured elsewhere, eventually finding new places and continued to have a top night.

After a lazy second day, we had to say bye bye to Dee, who we all got to know really well over the previous two weeks and were sorry to see her go.. to Chile! Of course she'll be missed and we'll catch up with her back home.

Nevis, Nevis, Nevis. AJ Hackett, the original bungy jump pioneer, has a company out here with three main jumps. Of course we decided to do the biggest one, so myself, Kelly and Fredi made our way up and all looked like pros as we jumped one by one on time. It was the best rush ever, falling 143 metres before being catapulted back up a few times, eventually coming to rest and trying to put yourself back together.

Our final day in Queenstown was another lazy affair, but we managed to make it up the gondola, take in beautiful views of the town, and luge (cart) through some fun tracks before heading to our family room (why stay in dorms when you can have your own room for the same price?) to watch some TV. I met up with an old friend, Andy, from Auckland, who is having the time of his life in Queenstown and will be applying for citizenship. I say good on you mate!