Magic all the way!

On Monday (5th March) I caught the Magic bus from Greymouth to Franz Josef. I was a bit apprehensive about using magic, as I wasn't sure what to expect. Would it be full of rampaging, alcohol fuelled 20 somethings wanting to hang their heads out of the windows? Nope. Apparently, that's the Kiwi Experience! There was a really wide range of ages on the bus and at 08:00 in the morning, everyone was very quiet and snoozy.

The driver, Greg, gave us a commentary of the places that we would be passing through and what we could see along the way. I really hadn't read up on magic very much and was really pleasantly surprised to fin out that we would be stopping in different places along the way. First up was a little jade factory, where we got to see the jewellery makers polishing and cutting the jade, or green stone as the Maori's call it. Then on to Ross, a very small gold mining community, where we got to 'pan' for gold. I got very excited, thinking we would be standing ankle deep in a raging river with a wooden rimmed mesh pan. It was still fun, but standing at a row of plastic buckets with a pre filled pan of stones, sieving them out, wasn't quite the pioneering experience! But I did find some gold and a bit of jade!

We took an unexpected stop at a beautiful lake, the name of which I can't remember now, before finally getting to Franz Josef. The sun was shining and we were driven straight up to an observation point where we could see the glacier. It was stunning. It hadn't rained for a while and so the glacier itself was slightly dirty, but still incredibly impressive. It felt quite surreal, standing amongst rainforest, while looking up a valley at a great expanse if ice. I was so excited to be there!

Everyone got dropped off at their hostels and then Greg took me to the Scenic hotel, where I was greeted by a doorman who took my luggage!!

After settling in, I popped over the road to The Landing (a pub) for a cuppa. Once again, within half an hour, the rain arrived!

That's when I decided to start this blog, and the first two entries. I'll now continue to bring this up to date.....