Franz Josef Christmas

well, given that i've been away from the computer for a little while, first let me say...

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! I really hope everyone had a lovely holiday. i was thinking of you all and wishing you well.

On christmas eve, a bunch of us did a full day glacier walk on Franz Josef glacier, one of the steepest glaciers in the world, and one of the few that is actually moving forwards (ie getting bigger rather than smaller). It was INTENSE. It was an 8 hour trek that brought us across a rocky terrain before reaching the beginning of the glacier, a steep climb that we accomplished by trudging up hundreds of stairs cut out of the ice. we were dressed head to toe in some pretty rockin' glacier gear, including rainpants, raincoat, hat, gloves, boots, and cramp-ons. and it was raining buckets- i mean the heaviest rain i have ever been through in my life for such a long period of time. everything we brought with us was completely soaked, and our boots were transformed into lovely little private swimming pools. it was absolutely BRUTAL. the first 5 hours were hard as hell, but you couldn't be upset about hiking on a glacier, no matter what the conditions. after the first rocky and dirty bit, you step onto the most pristine ice formations you'll ever see, just perfect aqua blue rising up into steep peaks on either side, like a jagged half-pipe. we followed the guide one by one in a line, occasionally climbing up steps and using ice picks as walking sticks (they also doubled as sweet accessories for especially bad-ass photos). Funny thing- I actually met a guy from Maine-- his name is Tom and he's from outside Augusta, and he works on the glacier as a sort of maintanence person... smalllll world.

At the end of our trip, our feet were completely swollen and rinkled, and we were exhausted. My feet swelled up the next day and I had a limp for about three days, but I still maintain that is was worth it...

That night we went to the bar to celebrate Christmas Eve with our secret santa gifts. I got a stuffed gorilla that I later found out was from Thumper. We all decided to stay up wicked late that night, hanging out in the laundry room talking until the early hours of the morning.

That next day, we all woke up super late to find that it was perfectly clear and sunny out, which was a nice change. I went out on the absolutely best picnic of my life-- out on a trail in the park, sitting on a sheet, eating sandwiches, chips, fruit pies, and drinking wine. Midway through, the rain poured down and we huddled under the trees for more than an hour, just enjoying the scenery and the rain... it was absolutely perfect.

After arriving back at the hostel, most people went off to eat a big christmas dinner organized by the lodge, while emma and i and a few others went to the kitchen to cook our spectacular christmas dinners of noodles and veggies with cottage cheese... which is surprisingly good, actually...

The next morning, the 26th, we hopped back on the bus to drive to Makarora, and we saw the most stunning scenery of the trip. We passed through the Haast Pass and stopped at a reflective lake (the name of which I don't remember). That night we stayed at a lodge in the middle of nowhere in Makarora, and I finally got to a phone to call home and wish everyone a merry christmas...

The next day we took off and drove to Queenstown, stopping briefly in Wanaka to check out Puzzle World, this museum type thing with trippy rooms and mazes and such... it was wild. there was one room that completely threw of you sense of the horizontal, it was so bizarre and made we ridiculously motion sick... when we got back on the bus we enjoyed some more stunning scenery before touching down in Queenstown.

The next bit is kind of exciting. so i'm going to start a new post again. just for fun.