Journey to the glaciers - Part 1

I made it...so happy to have made it safely to my lodge tonight after a very, very long day of driving. Franz Josef is really far away from everything (I was forewarned but reality hurts), the drive took me up and around all sorts of twist and turns and once the sun was gone there were no street lights. It rained all day and will continue to tomorrow ;-( which doesn't make the drive fun.

I did have the good sense to pick up a CD last night (Australian artist named Gabriella Cimli...if you like Amy Winehouse you'll like her just without all the Amy nuthouse drama) because there was no radio reception after the first two hours out of Queenstown. Once it hit 6pm (that's 6 hours of driving) I was getting really discouraged with whether or not I would find this place. Adding to my angst was the lack of reception on my phone.

From Queenstown to Franz Josef (township where I will be doing the glacial hike) its about 404Km (~250miles) and it took me a solid 7hrs to get here (two pit stops + six photo ops). No major drama with the exception that I've managed to drop my camera (its okay) but the filter lens is broken and stuck to my 300mm long lens...bummer ;-(

This is a huge milestone for me, first driving long distance is not my preferred mode of transit (most I've driven in Cali is 5 hrs) and second got over my anxiety of driving on the left side after a shaky experience in Ireland two years ago. Normally I don't like driving this long (esp. alone) but the scenary was just just captivating, its probably what made the drive tolerable. Over the 400km the scenary was quite varied, every 75km you'll see anything from the Cali highway 1 to Yosemite, to Hawaii, or to seattle. I'll load up some photos later.

Franz Josef is really far from everything...I'm at the only internet cafe which closes at 8pm (its 7:45pm now). I'm staying at a family run lodge (family of four with two young ones) and their house is right across from my room. They left the light on for me and gave me a bottle of milk...good thing I have my lactate pills for my lactose intolerant.

That's all for today... I'm going to head out for some dinner now, get an enough rest for the early glacial hike tomorrow which I'm really looking forward to. After the half a day of hiking, I head back down to Queenstown...yep another 7+ hours of driving. So stay tune to Part 2...