As Worm As Ice!

I headed down the South Island west coast and stopped off at the famous Franz Josef Glacier, which is one of the biggest ice cubes in New Zealand. Even though it looked big from the ground, climbing it would be no problem for the increasingly fit Super Wonder!

I met up with a resident sherpa, who turned out to be an uncanny twin of my nutter climbing buddy Simon from way back home. He decided that we should attempt the whole day walk in half the time, so there was no time to lose...


We were soon on the ice and looking like real professionals! My jacket was hotter than a McDonalds apple strudel and the crampons cut deep into the ice with every step. At the speed we were climbing, it took no time at all to reach the first plateau.

We decided to push on and carried on climbing until we reached the white ice, which was the holy grail of the day walks. When we arrived, we were greeted by a beautiful rainbow that arched over the glacier like a psychedelic bridge.

After some further effort aimed at finding the end of the rainbow, we decided to give up and headed back down as the light was beginning to fade. About half way down, we stumbled on some worm holes that were really cool. I looked into one of the holes but there was a note saying that all the worms had slipped down to the village for a nice cup of tea because they'd "got a bit chilly".


We decided that it was time to join them for a brew before they came home...

StevieWonder
IcedGem