Thursday, 17 December 2015

New Zealand – Stop 10 – Franz Josef

Our next stop was Franz Josef, which is a glacier, and we were excited to be spending 2 nights somewhere! Here we are planning to do a helicopter ride over the glacier, but the weather the first day wasn't looking promising for the next day, which is when we were planning on doing it. In the afternoon/evening we went in the hot tub which was at the hostel, it could fit 20 people in! Attached to the hostel they had a bar and restaurant, so we had a few cocktails (a few which turned into many...), which only cost $5 each! It ended up that we were the last people out on our bus! It was super fun, and was nice to know that we weren't going to have to travel the next day!

It was clear when we woke up that the helicopter ride was not going to go ahead, as there was such a low cloud. Being us, and we seem to love a walk, we decided to go and walk to the glacier instead. From the area of the hostels and shops there is a taxi service to the walking track up to the Franz Josef glacier, this cost $12 return. The weather was a little crappy but we made it do and walked as far as we could. We could slightly see the glacier, at least we can say we have seen it!





It was such a shame that we couldn't do the helicopter ride, as it was one of our top things that we wanted to do. Since then there has been a crash where we would've done it, which is really scary and so sad that people lost their lives. I think this really highlights the dangers of activities like this, and if we were to go there now I think I would think twice about doing it.

ACCOMMODATION – Rainforest Retreat- $30 dollars per night, could upgrade to $34 to a better room (we didn't)
The hostel overall was quite nice. It wasn't just for backpackers, as it had doubles and nicer rooms aswell. The kitchen was pretty massive, and was especially quiet on their pizza night, that they have every other night which is $17 for unlimited pizza chips and garlic bread, plus a drink. Attached to the hostel was Monsoon Bar which had a really good happy hour, and the cocktails were lovely. They also had a hot tub that could fit 20 people in, which was nice to go and chill for a bit. The only thing I would say that let it down was the comfort of the beds, mine and Melissa's beds were ridiculous. We were on a bunk, and Melissa basically touched the floor, and I basically touched Melissa. I wish we had upgraded for $4, so I would recommend to do so.
Rating - 4/5


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