Adventure Land

New Zealand’s Maori name is “Aotearoa” or “Land of the Long White Cloud”. This was because of the constant clouds that hang over the numerous mountain ranges on both the north and south islands. If New Zealand were to be renamed today, it would probably be “Adventure Land”. There is every sort of activity to get you outside, in either a pleasant or hair-raising manner. Franz Josef ranks pretty high on stuff to do, the obvious being explore the Franz Josef Glacier. The extremely unique thing about the Franz Josef Glacier is that it is one of only three glaciers in the world that descend into a temperate rainforest environment (less than 1,000 feet above sea level). The other two are the Fox Glacier (ten miles south of Franz Josef) and one in Argentina. The Franz Josef is the most accessible, with trails leading up to the front edge of the glacier, guided hikes up onto the glacier, and helicopter trips up onto the top of the glacier (about 9,000 feet elevation). We rolled into town during a nasty storm and had no views of the mountains/glacier at all. Luckily, these storms were short-lived. Over the next three days, amazingly blue skies would turn stormy, only to get sunny again within an hour. Some days it would be a steady rain, while the sun was blazing.

In the way of activities, we tried most of them.. I had found a company called Beaumont Buggies which had guided trips through their farm and rainforest in off road go karts. The nice thing was that you only had to be fourteen to drive, so I knew Mat would be excited to give it a go. The owner’s slogan was “Are you ready to get dirty?”, just like on Dirty Jobs TV show. Sally, once again opted for some “me” time – go figure. Mat, Charlie, and I were suited up with full rain gear, boots, and helmets and off we went for one of the most muddiest and funnest go cart rides I have ever been on. (Check out “Where are the Reeve boys”). We ended the day with a great hike up to the face of the glacier, enjoying the massive views and great scenery. Later that night, we enjoyed a nice dinner at a local bar/restaurant called Monsoons (It rains..We pour). Charlie was the hit of the night, by winning the Bingo Game grand prize – a free Pub Crawl Night out in Queenstown, our final stop. Way to go Charlie!!

The next morning we really lucked out with our helicopter tour, because the weather had been so unpredictable for the last week, none of the helicopters had been flying. We headed out about 10:30 and had great weather and views (Check out “Planes, Trains”). Everyone was really excited about landing on top of the glacier and having the chance to walk around. It was a wild feeling to have been in summer weather one minute and ten minutes later being on top of a glacier with temperatures below freezing, and of course, Mat and Charlie had to have a snowball fight. After the tour, we packed up and headed back north to the small coastal town of Okarito. And I do mean small – less than thirty homes right on the ocean and next to one of the largest saltwater lagoons in New Zealand. We had come back up here so I could attempt one of my most daring Dr. Doolittle adventures. After years of preparation and countless hours in the bush, I was still unsure if I was worthy enough to handle “The Kiwi Death March”. The gory details to follow.