Franz Josef: The first weeks

Ah Franz Josef, its been a long hard summer. I write this now as the temperature has dropped and fresh snow has been spotted on the mountains. It is only the last day of summer officially so its not exactly a long summer on the west coast but it certainly has been an epic one. I had no idea what to expect when I got the job. It was a cool looking backpacker bar in the middle of nowhere with the Kiwi Experience staying here three times a week when I got here but it is so much more than that. Its been hard, its been fun, its been stressful, its been exciting, its been draining but if you ask me back then, on my first day, knowing what I know now and ask me would I do it again?

Almost begrudgingly I say yes and this is why....

The monsoon bar in Franz Josef

STORIES FROM FRANZ JOSEF

September - ish 2013

Having said goodbye to the kiwi bus I was now all on my own again starting from scratch in a new town. That's absolutely fine, I've done many times before and as Franz Josef is a town where everyone is sort of new it was quite easy to meet people. The bar itself is known by everyone in town and is the most happening place on a night and so all the "locals" come and drink here. I say "locals" as more than half of the people who call themselves that are seasonal staff or have only been here a few weeks or months, in fact you are sometimes playing spot the kiwi in this town!

The bar on a very quite evening

The monsoon bar is one of those bars where everyone goes to get drunk and have a good time. This involved nightly competitions in the bar for free bungy jumps or rafting or whatever. This meant that I also had to host them. Being on show, on stage, with a microphone and everyone looking at me is something I once thought I would never be able to do. Sure, since uni and since travelling its not that big of a step but I couldn't help but look back and I remember seeing these sorts of things in bars and thinking I could never do that! I had a rant on Facebook about this, after having a couple of drinks and its worth saying again about how far I've come since that shy boy I once was with no charisma and no confidence to now, where I'm hosting these competitions with up to 50 people at a time! Without even flinching! I saw this as achieving an ultimate goal!

Jager train

DOWN IT!

Blowing up condoms till they pop! Obviously

It must have been my first few days when Mike, one of the kayak guides, was leaving and he had to down a whole load of alcohol out of a very old boot. I think I realised then what I had let myself in for!

Down it boot style

So I settled in to the job and my new house. I spent a week in the hostel before moving to a house around the corner sharing with Tom. I met most of the locals who seemed happy to come over and introduce themselves and the same with all the drivers of the buses that came through. I only knew about Kiwi Experience but Stray stay here as well as Contiki, G Adventure, Active and Escapades. Each with the own drivers and there are so many names to remember!

the digs

DJ Casper anyone?

It wasn't always meeting new people though. I had some visitors. A few people who had jumped off the bus before me caught up and it was a surprise for them seeing me working here! Also Martin who I worked with in Cairns came through on the Kiwi bus

Look who it is!

Ah yes, the weather. Perhaps I should re-think the answer I gave at the beginning of this blog. Would I do it again knowing the weather I would endure? Hell no!

We English moan about the rain but it really is nothing. I managed to find myself in the wettest place in New Zealand - wetting than the bloody Amazon Rainforest! The amount of rain here would see Britain on its arse like it currently is. To put it in perspective London gets on average 0.5 metres of rain a year. Manchester gets 1 metre of rain a year. Franz Josef - 5 sodding metres!!! But I suppose that's why the glacier is here as it equates to 50 metres of snow fall in the mountains.

Raining

I realise that there wouldn't be a town if it wasn't for this rain as there wouldn't be a glacier nor would there be any rainforest but my god it was annoying. I arrived in Spring which is the wettest time of the year and when its torrential rain for weeks it gets extremely boring!

still raining

If there was any saving grace is was the fact that the were some pretty epic storms which are always fun. A few times there was an epic amount of hail. The picture below is of the front yard which normally is a dull grey colour but during this storm there was a couple of centimetres of hail covering it.

stormy

just a handful

So I had settled into my job and the town. I was still getting used to the weather and I was all ready and set for whatever Franz Josef could throw at me.

To be continued!

Kiwi Experience: Mountains and Rainforest

13th - 17th September 2013

HELLO SOUTH ISLAND! Not long after leaving Wellington we saw the snow capped peaks of the Southern Alps before sailing through the Marlborough Sounds. I heard that the Milford sounds were spectacular but they must be effing amazing if they beat the Marlborough Sounds. I didn't know which side of the boat to stand on to get the best view!

SNOW!

Into the Sounds

B E A UTIFUL

And the epic view didn't stop when we got to Picton. Driving through the Marlborough region we saw mountains and valleys covered in a lush green forest. Its a shame we couldn't stop in a few places to take some photos. The bus just kept ploughing on through to Kaiteriteri.

Famous wine country

We arrived in Kaiteriteri (pronounced Ki-teri-teri) just as the sun was going down behind the hills so we quickly checked in and went to the beach to watch the sunset.

another stunning view

Sunset over Kaiteriteri

Day 13

Kaiteriteri is a nice little village on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park which is one of the treasures of New Zealand. I imagine this place would be heaving in the summertime. The best way to explore it is to take a couple of days using the water taxis but they are quite expensive on no one else on the bus fancied it either. No one even went kayaking. Part of me wishes I'd spent a couple of days here to have a look around but I didn't and we were only there for just over 12 hours!

The beach

We went for a bit of an explore in the morning along the beach and over some rocks and then we decided we would leave Kaiteriteri early as no one had planned to do anything. On the way back to the hostel we had to cross a stream rather than going the long way back around. Some people jumped it but when Colm failed miserably I thought I would just take my shoes off and walk through it!

Rock climbing

River jumping

So onwards again, this time heading for Westport. More stunning scenery along the Buller River. They've put a sign on a pole to show where the record flood level is which must be some 20 metres above the river and over the road. Must have been one mighty flood!

Very naarce

Buller River

Must have been a very wet day

Westport apparently gets 2,000 hours of sunshine a year so naturally when we turned up it was pissing down! There was a strange sort of laziness in the group by now. We hadn't done anything for a few days and no one seemed in any hurry to change that so everyone sat around the TV that afternoon and watched a film. By early evening though some people wanted to go a walk so that's what we did now that it had stopped raining.

Apocalyse?

The beach here was the strangest beach I've ever been on. It looked like a disaster zone. The entire beach from the bushes to the sea and as far as the eye could see was just covered in driftwood. I can only assume that its all come from the rainforest over the winter but it was a very eerie sight.

another gorgeous sunset

We carried on along the beach and nearly got stuck as the tide was coming in but we ended up at the lighthouse and took a very strange group photo.

Day 14

After a wet night we drove on to Cape Foulwind which, as you may have guessed, is very windy! Its a home a one of New Zealands largest seal colonies so after trudging along a very wet and cold walk I was quite excited when we reached the viewing platform. I couldn't see any of them!

Cape Foulwind

But that's because I wasn't looking hard enough! After being initially disappointed I began to see them everywhere. I couldn't see them amongst the rocks and its only when they move that you notice them. The longer I stood there the more seals I could see. That was my first ever seal encounter!

Seals!

Getting a good luck

Bus is waiting for us

The road down this part of the west coast is quite staggering as it weaves its way along the side of the mountains. We stopped at one lookout to get possibly the best view on the entire coast. The photo doesn't do it justice at all.

Epic view

We stopped a little further down the road again to view the Punakaiki (Poo-na-kai-key) Pancake Rocks which are obviously rocks that look like a stack on pancakes! Say what you see in New Zealand!

Pancake Rocks

Another stop in Greymouth (which was grey) and we finally arrived at Lake Mahinapua (Maa-he-naa-poo-a) and the Poo Pub. Tonight was fancy dress so we had stocked up on whatever we could get our hands on in Greymouth. I decided to go as Paul the alien from the film Paul. Basically I bought an alien mask and as the theme was anything beginning with P there was little choice.

Lake Mahinapua

The pub itself is famous and been housing the Kiwi Experience for 20 years! There was an old man who ran it who was legendary but unfortunately he died last year and so did the spirit of the pub I feel. The people there were nice enough but seemed to have lost their enthusiasm.

Paul or me?

Considering this was billed as the biggest night on the trip it was quite a laid back affair. We all squeezed around one table, don't know why because we had the whole place to ourselves, and we played a couple of drinking games. The bar closed at about 11 and we all went to bed. Epic night!

Pamala using her breasts!

Bus Photo!

Day 15

The next morning we continued down the road to the Bushmans Centre in Pukekura (Pook-e-ku-ra) were you can taste a Possum Pie. It's illegal to sell possum pies in New Zealand but for a small donation to the centre they will give you a pie. The owner here has a no nonsense attitude to life. There are some complaints people have sent in to the centre which are available for people to read and the owner has left a copy of his rather amusing replies.

animals

A little further down the road and just as the mountains start getting bigger we arrived in the small town of Franz Josef home to the Franz Josef Glacier. We went in to the Glacier Guides to book a trips on the ice for the next day and then went around to the Rainforest Retreat where Vicky did her welcoming speech for us.

Big Mountains!

Obviously as the glacier is the main attraction in Franz Josef we couldn't wait to go see it. A couple of hours walk up the road and then on a track to the bottom of the glacier.

Glacier in the background

The glacier is an impressive sight but I was shocked to see how far it receded since 2008. The glacier tours used to start at the very bottom of the glacier and you would walk up it but its now too dangerous and the only way on and off the glacier is by helicopter.

Melting quick!

You can't even see the bottom of the glacier from the end of the path because its hidden behind a big pile of lose rocks that's too dangerous to walk on. The glacier is special as its one of only 3 glaciers take flow into a rain forest. The others being Fox Glacier (30 mins south) and one in Cuba. It rains a lot in Franz Josef, 5 metres a year which ends up as 50 metres of snow at the top of the mountains.

Glacial Valley

Looking at the glacier

Back to the hostel and we headed to the Monsoon Bar where the was a limbo competition that night. I didn't do very well but Colm nearly won. The bar was cool. 'This would be a nice place to work' I thought.

Limbo!

Day 17

Today was super awesome!

Started out with my first ever helicopter ride!

Helicopter!

The helicopter took us up the valley and on to the glacier and luckily it didn't slide off and nor did I. We were all kitted up with boots and crampons and big coats. Not that it was cold, it was a gorgeous spring morning.

Glacier!

Ice!

PHOTO!

After we had strapped on our crampons and took a few photos we started walking up the glacier weaving our way through the maze led by our guide Pete.

Big ass wall of ice!

I was surprised to learn how much the glacier changes, even on a daily basis. They need to find a new route every couple of weeks.

Group in front of us

A few ice steps

There were a few bits where you had to trust that your crampons would do the work for you because there were a few steep drops and you didn't want to go sliding over them.

adding to the melt

Hold on!

Trekking

The best came at the end with a huge ice feature. It had melted too much that it was dangerous to walk under any more in case in collapsed but it was really impressive!

cave!

Boy band photo

We walked back down to the helicopter site with the Lord of the Rings theme tune in my head (that kind of place). Walking on the glacier was frikking awesome! So cool! Literally!

Back on the helicopter!

Valley

With our tickets for the glacier we got the hot pools included so after tea we went and sat in there for an hour. The retail price of this is $28 and I really cannot understand who would pay that much. Sure its a nice spot and possibly relaxing but you just sit in a large bath filled with other people. For $28! But for free it was cool.

Hot Pools

Earlier that afternoon I had seen an advert in the supermarket for a bar job at the Monsoon Bar next to the hostel I was staying in. I thought I may as well pop in and ask whilst I am here and see what the deal is. My fear was that if I had a job in a city it might have only been weekend work and I could really do with a full time job. So I went in and spoke to the manager who interviewed me right then and there and started on the bar that night!

The most unexpected turn of events! It was very strange to be serving people I just spent the last two weeks with but there you go. My Kiwi Experience is temporally on hold. I said goodbyes to everyone in the morning and began my life in Franz Josef.

More to come...