No ice!

So, on the 6th March, my birthday, I was meant to walk up the Franz Josef Glacier. This was cancelled due to exceedingly crappy weather.

I spent most of the day relaxing with huge amounts of tea and coffee and leeching the free wi-fi. I explored the area and had a look inside the first, custom built hut for explorers visiting the Franz Josef area - the Defiance Hut. A corrugated tin iron hut, that was carried, but by bit up the mountainside. Incredible....... http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/historic/by-region/west-coast/glaciers/cape-defiance-hut/

I then went kayaking on Lake Mapourika. Other people had cancelled due to the weather, but out on the lake there was no rain. Beacuse of this, there was just me, Ben the guide and a young German couple, Johannes and Layni. There was absolutely no one else on the 4km lake. The water was 18oc and fresh enough to drink. Which we did. We crossed the lake and kayaked up a small creek into the rainforest. It was beautiful. The only sounds that I could hear were the sounds of the rainforest around us and the kayak making it's way through the water; and the slightly louder splashes of me trying to kayak around obstacles. We went as far as we could and then stopped for ben to tell Maori tales of how the kiwi lost it's wings. As we made our way back across the lake, the rain grew heavier and the mists dropped further down the mountains. It felt almost prehistoric. No sounds, just the distant misty shore line. Magic.

I do have photos, but can't get them to upload, so will add them later!