Franz Josef yo

The small town of Greymouth was like most towns on the west coast - small and homely type feel to it. Our Magic Bus rolled down thru more of these joints, including Hokitika where they have a March food festival specializing in wild animal roadkill and possum pies. As you wander on thru the countryside there are some unique things in the road - not just the roadkill. Combination rail and road bridges. Only three in all of New Zealand and we went over a majority of them. Kinda weird going over the bridge you have to check the rear view mirror for any trains steaming down the rail, or road.

We made it to Ross, the original gold city of the 1860s. Just like we had a gold rush out west and manifest destiny took control of Americas politics, New Zealand did too. The town is stupid small, only a block long. This is their church dating back to the 1800s still in use today.Only I doubt Id rush to the middle of nowhere towns to find gold but thats what the descendents of Ross did back in the day. Here´s our awesome bus driver Ryan panning for some nuggets. Along the way to Franz Josef we rolled thru Whateroa - Ryan the drivers hometown. The hilarity that ensued was great. Whateroa is one block long. Imagine this giant bus rolling thru, honking its horn and everyone on board waving to random strangers. Well mostly Ryans friends who grew up and never left town. And we said hello to the inhabitants of the most important house in Whateroa, Ryans grandparents hood. Funny stuff. And we finally come to here...Franz Josef. Not much to do other than climb one of the three inland glaciers on Earth. The other one is a few miles away and the third is in Argentina somewhere. Did the hike up the Franz Josef Glacier. Not something I wanted to miss so yea check that off the adventure list. This is what an inland glacier might look like in your neighborhood. Its that white strip of ice stuck between these two mountains. It actually moves about 5 meters a year or something. Or was it 5 meters a month? I forget..but the point is from where I took this picture, thats where the glacier used to be. Good thing we got global warming! And dont be fooled by the illusion...the glacier is a good 2km and a 1 hour hike away from this point (cause up close it looks like it was a 100 meters away).Can you feel the anticipation as we get closer....

and closer...

Until we´re halfway up the thing and thats as far as we could go on a half day hike. Still freezing all the way up there too. Pure blue ice yo.

After that I checked out the hostel lounge and they were playing Flight of the Conchords - about two New Zealand dudes who are trying to make it in NYC. Pure hilarity. And even funnier when you watch it in Franz Josef, New Zealand.