I had a hike up above Franz Josef (8 hour walk in 5… I’m loosing my touch)… Pretty useless views – but good to stretch the legs.
While I did that – Nati and Laura did a sky dive at Fox Glacier. I have heard it is the best place in NZ to do it – and they certainly loved it.
Then today we hiked in to the Welcome Flats hot pools. DOC said it was a 7 hour walk – so was expecting to do it in 5 – maybe 6… but it took the full 7. I was… shocked (still am to be honest)
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It was hilarious – the first river (about 20m after starting the trip) Laura and Nati took about 20 mins to cross – desperately trying to keep their shoes dry. Once they got wet and resigned themselves to squelching for the next 6 hours things progressed much more smoothly :)
I was completely knackered when I got to the hut. I think it was the 1/2 pumpkin, 3? kumara, bottle of red and a few other things I’d insisted on carrying.. so much for chivalry – never again!
Mind you, the hot pools were worth it. We went in at 10pm after dinner – everyone else had gone to sleep so had the place to ourselves. It’s the best time to go in as the sandflies have gone to sleep (thank God). Below you can see a picture of the hot pools by day.
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Finally… an example of kiwi sense of humour. I tried to call.. but there was no dial tone.
Next day – 5 hours out (far lighter) and drove up to Motueka – for our Abel Tasman adventure.
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