Staying firmly on the ground in Franz Josef

Franz Josef is one of those places that you can do a lot of things in the air if you have the money. However, when some clouds come in, you’re firmly stuck on the ground. 

After the heli hike, we went up to the local glow worm tunnel. Glow worms are famous all over New Zealand. You can see them at night in forests, or go to a cave or tunnel to see them in the day. It’s quite the sight. 

Yesterday was a bit of a write off due to weather and something to do with having too many beers the night before. 

This morning, it was time to spend my leaving present that my lovely ex colleagues gave me (big up the analysts at the OfS). It was time for skydiving!

The weather looked shaky this morning but an hour later we were given the go ahead to take to the skies. We got all suited up and ready to go, with the first group getting in the plane and flying up. 

Sadly, 10 minutes later we were told that the plane had to turn around and that was that. No skydiving today.

You need a lot of flexibility to be able to actually do activities like this, but sadly flexibility isn’t straightforward in a country where you need to book your accommodation two weeks in advance. At least I managed to take to the skies a few days ago though. 

Instead, we went for a hike to the bottom of the glacier. The view was good, but not as good as the view I had a few days before. The hike itself was a good challenge though with some impressive suspension bridges.

I have managed to carry out some flexible moving of dates for the next few days though. I was meant to be going to the next glacier along for a couple of nights and do some hiking there, but with the weather being the weather, I have abandoned those plans and have added another two nights to my next stop, Wānaka.