Stray Bus Day 14 - Franz Josef

We had a great day today one of the best days so far. We went on our heli-hike on the Franz Josef glacier. We had a bit of a lie in and got to the glacier centre at about 10am to check in. After this they got us kitted out in all the kit we needed. We got given boots, socks, mittens, jackets and hats. Then came the exciting bit, we got taken up the glacier in a 5 seater helicopter. The flight only lasted about 15mins but was worth every second. The pilot took us round the top of the glacier and showed us some crevasses and some stunning mountain tops. The ice was really blue and clean with hardly any debris visable. We landed on the ice about 5km up the 11km glacier and got out for our hike on the ice. We had a great day for the glacier as it was sunny and clear blue skies which made it look even more impressive. When we got of the helicopter our guide handed out crampons for our boots. Crampons are basically metal spikes that you attach to your boots with a piece of string. The look a little bit like mini bear traps. Anyway they do their purpose and suddenly you can walk on super slippery ice and not fall on your bum! ndrew ofcourse had to see just how good they were so tried walking down close to vertical slopes, and they worked. We had about 2 hours on the ice, walking around with the guide and looking at all the ice formations, such as the arches, caves , moulins and crevasses. We squeezed ourselves through some pretty small spaces in the ice and even had the chance to jump into an ice pool. We both refused as there was ice ontop of the pool which you would of had to break through before hitting the water. We had an amazing time on the ice, the landscape was stunning and much of the ice was untouched and completly clean. It was very quiet on our part of the glacier with only one other tour of about 5 people up that high! We could hear ice avalanches every now and again. It was the most amazing experience. We flew back in the helicopter of the ice. The trip was fantastic, we only wish we could of had longer on the ice.

Afterwards we headed to the Hukawai Glacier centre to learn about the history of the glacier and what has happened to it in recent years. The Glacier was at its smallest in the 70's and has been growing ever since to its current length of 11km! The centre was really well done and really interesting.