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!