on the glacier

Since my motto for this trip has been 'it's not snowing', I feel I should point out the fact that, even though it's a glacier, it was actually not all that cold. The guiding company gave us each boots, wool socks, mittens, a hat and a lovely, blue waterproof jacket. We also got waterproof overtrousers, but I never put mine on. I had a tshirt, long sleeve shirt and a fleece underneath and I was fine the whole time. The guides wore shorts, but I'm a little less impervious to the cold.

I've mostly been blessed with good weather for the tour of the South Island. It was pouring rain for days prior to our group arriving in Franz Josef, but we had beautiful blue skies. It rains a lot of the west coast - some areas get 5-7 metres a year.