Nov 21 - Jade, Gold and Glacier

The bus ride was fairly dull today, but we had a couple stops to break it into segments. First we stopped in a town famous for its Jade carvings and browsed a museum dedicated to the green rocks. Next stop was in Ross, which was a gold rush town, and we watched some of the other passengers learn to pan for gold (which cost them $10 and was super lame, entailing putting rocks in a pan with a vial of gold dust, then slowly pouring the rocks out until the gold was left). A couple hours more and we got to the town of Franz Joseph, which consists of maybe 4 little streets. We picked up some garlic bread and milk to compliment the pasta diner we planned for the evening and dropped them back at the hostel. Then we had to rush over to the glacier hike office and check in. Filled out the forms and got into our waterproof jackets, pants and boots and then hopped on their bus to the glacier. It only took a few minutes and we hopped off into a temperate rain forest. We took a trail that looped through the forest and went from dirt to mud. The forest opened up into a spectacular valley full of rocks ranging in size from pebbles to boulders. Apparently the glacier pushes enough rocks into the massive valley each year to raise the height of the ground by about half a meter. The Franz Joseph glacier was in the distance and we were split into 4 groups, each with its own guide. We walked a couple KMs across the rocky valley until we reached the glacier. Then we zig-zagged up an icy path with crampon (spikes) strapped onto our boots. Got a picture in an ice tunnel, which was pretty much the sole reason I went on this journey. Went up a couple KMs in total, then came back down a different route and back through the valley and forest to the bus. A decent hike overall, with great views and something I haven't done before. The one downside was that it poured rain for a good portion of the hike, so we were all soaked and cold when we finished the 1/2 day journey. The bus took us back to the office, where we got to change into dry clothes and then head back to the hostel for dinner.

The pasta and garlic bread was amazing after the long day of exercise and then the 4 of us who hiked and one other from our crew went to glacier hot pools to relax the muscles after today. There were 3 pools, one at 36 degrees, one at 38, and one at 40. We spent over 3 hours alternating between the three and chatting. Returned to the hostel and played Scattergories with our travel group (the super six as I have dubbed it) consisting of me, Brennan, Dan (St. Louis), Bahmini (Hong Kong), Sarah (Guelph), and Enrico (Italy) as this is the last night we'll all be together in our New Zealand travels. Watched some TV after then a late bed time, but Brennan and I get to sleep in until like 9:30 then watch the Riders game, so it's all good.