Day 12

Franz Joseph Glacier, New Zealand

Today, we took a helicopter to the top of a glacier. For those of you who are too shy to ask , I will answer the question, “What is a glacier”? (I posed this exact question to our guide approximately 4 minutes into our trip). I thought a glacier was a big, nasty ice cube floating around with rocks and snow and, of course, ice. Like the one in “Titanic”. Apparently, it is roughly just that, but resembles a mountain so much that I was tempted to believe we were just hosed out of 500 bucks.

We arrived about midway up the glacier after a ten minute helicopter ride. I was busy alternating between praying and photographing what would possibly be my very last look at the world, so the trip was a blur for me. I figured as long as the helicopter pilot was sipping on his morning coffee without a care in the world, we would be fine.

We landed on the glacier (about 200m above sea level) next to a pile of barrels (provisions incase we got STRANDED ON THE GLACIER) and began our journey through a maze of snow covered moguls and ice caves. It was a beautiful, clear day, one which had been preceded by a few days of snow. The snow made walking around a little easier (than walking on ice), though it was still possible to fall hip high into icy, slushy water hidden beneath the snow… if you deviated from the instructors footsteps. (Which some middle aged Indian women in our group did…. Not pretty).

Throughout our 2 hour stroll, you could hear “mini” avalanches. Each time I started to hear the ice sliding, I resisted the urge to throw myself on the ground and cover my head, but instead distracted myself by hitting Chad for saying things like “I bet you’d die in a second being anywhere near that thing, huh?” Or, “Has anyone ever died up here?” Or, my favorite Chad comment du jour: as we watched a helicopter find it’s way out of the glacier valley, it came very close to the mountain. “Boom!” Chad yelled in front of our group of 10.

Anyway, I’ll turn it over to Chad to describe the awesomeness of our adventure, but I’ll just say that it was one of the niftiest things that I have ever done. Chad here. Before going into more details of our Glacier Experience I had a few thoughts….I’ve learned a few things in the 3 weeks I’ve been married. One being that when your spouse is clearly better at something than you, let her/him take the reigns. In the case of domestic tasks it completely works to my advantage. However, since the start of this blog I’ve realized that I write at about a 9th grade level, where as Morgan writes a level closer to her college degree. I’ve accepted that this will never change which is why we post at about a 5:1 ratio and will continue to do till we are back stateside.

Ok, back to the trip details.

Yesterday, we drove 5 hours from Queenstown to to the Franz Joseph Glacier. Driving on the left hand side of the road was definitely an experience. Especially when it down- poured for part of the 5 hour drive to Glacier Country. The roads were narrow, winding, and at times on cliffs over the ocean. (Side note I’m watching Ellen Degeneres and she just showed the video of a 13 yr old girl using a stripper pole in her bedroom.)

The glacier/heli trip was outstanding. On the drive up here from Queenstown I must have said about 5x that this place better be really cool for this long a trip. Holy sh*t it was. If you come to NZ it’s the #1 must do. We’ve attached a number of pics showcasing todays experience. Unfortunately the middle aged Indian’s fall into the freezing cold water was not captured on film. She totally deserved it for holding up the group. And yes Morgan hit me when I told another couple on the tour that. They agreed with me.


We drive back to Queenstown tomorrow for one night during which I will probably lose all my gambling winnings, then we’re off to Sydney to wrap up the trip. A few misc notes: -Frank’s bday is next week
-I went 1-1 last week in Fantasy Football
-We DO NOT get espn at this hotel
-Apparently you can not hold the Koala’s at the Sydney Zoo.
-Morgan sent back her food at lunch today

love, chad and morgs