I Think I Might Be Stuck (1-3/06/09)

MONDAY 1ST JUNE

We left Queenstown and drove to Franz Joseph village. It was probably the longest journey ever. It was different to all the rest as we picked up two hitch-hikers. One from South Africa via Wales and Zimbabwe named David, and one from France named Comb (like tomb but with a ‘C’). Dot was scared that they might try and kill us, as she watches too many films, and so she sat in the front with Louise for the first time in three and a half weeks. This left me to keep the two of them entertained with the help of Flash. There’s very little else to be said really, as sitting in the back of a campervan really is quite boring. Although today is the end of New Zealand music month, and to celebrate they’ve brought out a CD and book containing New Zealand’s greatest songs. It turns out they’re both blank.

TUESDAY 2ND JUNE

Last night we freedom camped in FJ village, apparently you’re not supposed to. We realised this when Louise along with Steptoe and Son went for a helicopter ride around FJ and Fox glaciers. When they went to get in the helicopter, it just so happened that the exact place where we had camped overnight was also the main helipad. Oops! Maybe in future we should check out our surroundings a little better in future; although doing it in the dark is very difficult. As I said Louise, Flash and Dot went on a helicopter ride over the two main glaciers. By all accounts it was pretty amazing. That still doesn’t mean I want to do it as I’m even more wary of going in a helicopter than I am an aeroplane. Maybe one day, when they make it the safest mode of transport around, I might change my mind and go up in one.

WEDNESDAY 3RD JUNE

As we’re becoming ultra keen on doing walks all of a sudden, we got up really earlier and headed off to climb Franz Joseph Glacier this morning. When I say ‘we’, I’m not including Dot-Com in that as she struggles to climb the stairs at the best of times, so climbing a massive lump of ice will be pretty difficult.
Once we’ve sorted ourselves out and crossed over the 1.5 miles of rocks from the car park to the glacier face, we eventually get to step foot on to the billions of gallons of frozen water. First though we have to put on our crampons. We all get ourselves sorted (Flash, even though he’s just been shown can’t remember how to do it so I have to help him), except for two Chinese girls. Somehow they’ve managed to not get any crampons, despite being reminded and asked numerous times by the guides before and during the bus journey. Eventually after a lot of radio speak we set foot on the mighty Franz Joseph Glacier.
On the glacier walk itself there are eleven in our group, nine girls, one other lad and me. We are led by a young lad named Turtle. He’s been given this name, not due to his resemblance of a half-shelled amphibian, but because he is a very slow walker: my kind of guide. Once we’ve made it up the makeshift steps and over a load more rocks and rubble, we’re told that there will be a lot of small crevasses to negotiate and we’ll be on the ice for around six hours. The six hour ice time I can handle, but the small crevasses might be a challenge.
Turtle to leads the way and after around an hour in some of the rich kids in the group are moaning that ‘it’s a long way,’ or ‘it’s cold’. Get a grip; it’s a big block of ice. Before long we encounter our first crevasse and Louise has a massive panic when she gets stuck for a whole thirty seconds. After she takes her bag off, she gets through no problem. I then throw her back her bag and it falls into oblivion (it will only be lost for around eighty years mind, as that’s how long it takes for the very top ice to reach the bottom). Later on I get stuck in a crevasse, and then cut my hand on the ice just to add injury to insult. After getting patched up we start our descent back to the car park. It only takes around an hour, but it’s still dark by the time we get back to the village.
Later in the evening we go out to meet Louise, a woman we met earlier on in our travels whilst we were in Phuket. We catch up with a few drinks and some stories and then head back to the van absolutely knackered and aching.