franz josef

the drive to the franz josef glacier passes through the area closest to our "home" for the last 3 months. it has been rated as one of the 10 best drives in the world: appearing as if you are passing through a hedge with moutains and the ocean around you. the drive, however, was wasted on me as i was suffering from a massive hangover. the night before lyds and i had attended a "p" costume party - where everyone had to dress up as a something or someone that begins with a p. i have never seen so many prostitutes or pirates, the former being mostly trannies. lyds went as the paper bag princess. i went as pompey the great. hail.

150km s of hokitika is the white river of ice that is known as the franz josef glacier. it is a 3000m drop from the southern alps to the rainforest of the coastal plane. 60 odd glaciers poke off the southern alps like the many legs on a centipede. the franz josef glacier is the tallest and the most impressive. of course we climbed it.

armed with waterproof outerware, ropes, capons and an ice pick we spent 8 hours on the glacier cutting our path in the ice as we went. we chose to go with the advanced group. up ropes, around icefalls and rock debris, through crevasses and caves. it was like spending a day climbing the alliance atlantis logo. one such crevasse, called wonderboy, was so narrow that i had to wiggle through with my little daypack on. ice that is stunningly smooth and blue. everyday the glacier is in a constant state of changing, so every day the route guides take changes as well. saftey concerns are paramount as franz josef is one of the world's fastest moving glaciers. as we decended we heard an avalanche in the distance.

the glacier itself is nestled in between two moutains of the southern alps. it would take two days of hard and dangerous hiking to reach the top. massive waterfalls cascade from the flanking mountains to coat the ice. above you, the white stretches to the skyline.

time to make like tom and cruise.

2 neil - death 0.