Journey to Franz Josef, 19th

For anyone who is wondering after my previous post, last night I did go to the ice bar- since it was my last night in queenstown I thought I'd push the boat out! It was a curious experience...they give you gloves and a coat, and send you inside a smallish room. Full of ice sculptures, and a bar made of ice where you go to get a cocktail. Which is served in a glass made of ice! Most refreshing! It didn't stick to my mouth as I thought it might, which is good. At minus 8, you don't stay in long, which is good when you're on your own, and not sure if there will be anyone to talk to. As it happened there were a few friendly people in there, and there were plenty of small talk based remarks to be made in such a novelty place. And photos to be taken...but sorry, they're on my camera, so again it's a waiting game for those!

Today it was an early start to commence the nearly 8 hour journey to Franz Josef. This sounds like a horrible journey, but actually they do nice bus journeys here, with a little commentary and plenty of stops. We stopped by a waterfall, a cafe and a salmon farm today, as well as driving through a couple of towns, and seeing coastline, rainforest and mountains. There was a stretch of about 4 hours without any mobile network (the driver warned us, so it must be all networks), so it really did feel very remote out there.

Made it here it beautiful sunshine, so went out to explore the town in the two or three hours before dark. Visited a lovely little Anglican Church, and scoped out the hot springs and kiwi sanctuary for tomorrow. Then went on another of New Zealand's well maintained and signposted trails through the forest to a tunnel (which I wasn't brave enough to venture far into!) which used to be part of an old hydro power system of some kind. A few more trails and a glacier to explore tomorrow!