The Power of Beer

Hannah and I have been working and living at the Rainforest Retreat now for 8 days. Being that we work with the locals, we get all kinds of advice about things to do. Several people had mentioned to us that if you go to the right people, on the right day, you can get on a helicopter for the price of beer...

I know... It sounds hard to believe, we didn't even believe it! Franz Josef is a tiny town that's full of expensive tourist attractions. There are 5 or 6 companies in this one road town that fly people up to the glacier. These flights cost anywhere between $100 and $500 per person! 

But guess what... 

It actually worked!! 

The helicopter took a 10 minute flight up to the glacier. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen! The views were amazing! The pictures can't even come close to how beautiful it was! 

We were able to land on top of the glacier and walk around a little bit. It was surprisingly warm up there! In town, the temperature was about 85 degrees, so when we got up to the glacier, I was very thankful for the snow! 

Please excuse the lame selfie... Hannah and I had to take different flights, so we had to resort to selfies... Either way, it was awesome! 

On the way back down. 

We felt pretty lucky to be able to have the chance to do something like this! And to think... All for the price of a 24 pack :) 

There and Back Again: An Alex Knob Tale

On Monday (Jan. 26), Hannah and I had the day off. We wanted to do something EPIC that day! There are a lot of 3 or 4 hour hikes around Franz Josef, but we wanted to do something more! Our ignorant and naive selves wanted to climb a mountain! We wanted to hike "Alex Knob", which was advertised as an 8 hour hike up to a "sub-alpine terrain with superb views". Superb views it certainly was... But they failed to advertise a few other things... 

Most of the hike up was full of roots and rocks that required us to get on all fours and pull ourselves up to where the path continued. 

In between climbing, there were a lot of really cool spots to stop and take a picture... Aka: take a break, drink water, and pray to God that we were almost there. 

There were also several tunnels along the path, made from fallen trees and rocks. Some of those reminded us of a few scenes in LOTR, which then led us to pretending we were Frodo and Sam.... The things we did to keep our mind off of what we were actually doing. We played 20 questions, we sang songs, told stories, and even started taking turns about what we were grateful for (ie: for the roots, for giving us steps to climb up. For the moss, for giving me a soft cushion to land on when I fall). We became desperate towards the end... 

After 6 hours... Yes that's right, 6 HOUrS of climbing up hill, we finally made it to the top! A few people, who passed us along the way, even cheered for us as we walked up to the summit... Or for me, as I dragged myself to the top of the summit...either way, it was encouraging to have people who were rooting for us all the way up. 

We spent 20 minutes at the top in pure, yet exhausting, bliss. We were so proud of ourselves that we made it all the way to the top. We didn't care that 10+ people passed us or that we took many breaks to catch our breaths, we had made it! Now we had to make it down! That part was easy, we only had one choice. On the way up we struggled with the choice of turning around or making it to the top, but once you get to the top, the choice is made for. Unless we wanted to sleep there, we had to go down. 

5 minutes into our decend, I was in my own little world, thinking about how easy it'll be to go down, when my clumsy feet failed me...

It would have been fine, except I then had to go down the entire mountain! It took us four hours to climb down. Using my left foot as a crutch and my arms to hold me, I was able to climb down all the roots and rocks that we had just climbed up only a few hours ago. I think my adrenaline and Hannah got me through. She kept my spirits up and we were able to make it to the bottom. We may not have made it in 8 hours... But we made it, that's all that matters. Luckily for us, our dear friend Mike offered to pick us up at the end of the day. I don't know what I would have done without him. I even offered to work the night shift for him! All in all, it was an absolutely beautiful hike! Even though I hurt my ankle, the views and the fact that I can now say i climbed a mountain were totally worth it! 

For a more entertaining and detailed story, visit Hannah's blog at: 

Http://ibetterkeepmoving.blogspot.com

Zalas Creek

Today was a hot day, especially when you are cleaning backpacker's dorm rooms for four hours! After work, Chris, Mike, Hannah and I really wanted to go for a swim. Unfortunately there aren't any known places accessible to tourists that aren't eel invested... Luckily for us, we work with the locals and they showed us a great place where we could go cliff jumping (or if you're me, just go for a swim). 

Lots of little caves in the area, Chris spent some time exploring... But nothing to report 

Hannah was brave and took the leap! 

Other than that, we are working and exploring the little town of Franz Josef. Tomorrow we have the day off, so we are planning on going on a huge hike! 

Still no news on where we are going from here. We have applied to many jobs in the south, but no luck so far. We may end up going to Queenstown and trying our luck there! 

Franz Josef Arrival

*this post was meant to be posted yesterday, but we are in a pretty remote place with very little wifi*

It's been a crazy couple of days! We made it to our working site 2 days ago by once again hitch hiking. We were picked up by a really nice couple who were from Austrailia and were driving around to see the glaciers. It was a beautiful ride... At least I assumed so... I had to keep my eyes closed so I didn't get car sick from all the curvy roads. Fortunately they stopped a few times so that we could stop and take some pictures 

On one side of the road it's farm land and then the ocean and then on the other side is the mountains. 

The water in the river is coming down from the mountain, it's freezing cold and very blue (for a reason I have yet to discover) 

The little building amongst the mountains is part of the resort where we are working in Franz Josef. We work 4.5 hours a day with the other staff. We clean bedrooms (I have already gotten really good at making beds), help with dishes, and basically just help wherever we can. Yesterday, I peeled potatoes for an hour, mom you would be so proud! 

Here's our little home away from home for 10 days. We even have a mini fridge, which comes in handy when we get free stuff that the guests have left behind, such as: milk, chocolate, pop, beer, blueberries, tequila, and our favorite: 

A SELFIE STICK!!! (The two lads in the door are our fellow woofers, Mike and Chris, who are from the UK)

Today after work (2:00pm), Hannah, Chris and I took a hike that's near the resort. It took us to an old mining tunnel that goes through the mountain. Along the way were some really good photo ops: 

Just a little cute Inch worm, Hannah decided he needed a street name, so Gangsta Silk he became. 

The tunnel was pitch black with a few inches of freezing cold mountain water on the bottom. On the ceiling, lived lots of glow worms, which were really cool to see when we turned our flashlights off. 

Here is the turn around point of the trail. The tunnels continue on, but they are blocked off to the public. 

The days here are absolutely beautiful. I was worried that so much of our day would be wasted working, but it doesn't get dark here until 10 pm, so it's not a problem at all! The employees are very welcoming and friendly, I actually found it enjoyable to make beds and clean the dishes in the kitchen from breakfast. We have 8 more days here, and lots of trails and beaches to explore! 

Southern Alps Travels

As of yesterday, Hannah and I made a quick change in our plans. Instead of going to live on a farm we are going to live at a resort. Our only problem was getting there cheaply... After a few days here, we have quickly learned that hitch hiking is the way that backpackers get around New Zealand. After many chats and lots of tips, Hannah and I decided that we are going to go for it! 

We had to add the "please" sign to keep our "Minnesota nice" reputation going. We walked about 30 minutes from our hostel with all of our stuff and still had a long way to go to get to the highway where someone would pick us up. Some kind soul ended up picking us up and dropped us off at the edge of town where we could hitch a ride easily to the West coast. He was very kind and talked about his daughter and gave up some safety tips about hitch hiking. 

It wasn't two minutes after we were dropped off that a giant semi truck that 

was carrying milk waste picked us up. This ended up being a better trip across the mountains than we could have ever hoped for! Since we sat high in the truck, we could see everything! And Worrick ( the truck driver) knew absolutely everything there is to know about the area! He taught us about farming, geology, history, and so many other things about what we were driving through. He talked with an incredibly thick accent, the locals talk really fast and tend to mumble, so there was a little of nodding and smiling going on. He was so helpful and friendly and told us where we should go next and places that aren't worth seeing. I'm telling you, this is the way to get around! A free ride AND free knowledge. The following are some pictures as we went through the Alps:

This area is actually a scene from Lord of the Rings... according to Worrick! 

Worrick dropped us off right outside of a little town called Hokitika, which is about two hours from our job. It's a very cute town, mostly filled with tourists and backpackers, but it's right on the sea, so Hannah and I had a good time frolicking on the sand. 

Lots of drift wood on the beach! 

At the end of the day we went to see the Glow Worms, most places around NZ it costs a lot of money to see them, but these ones were free! We had to go up a very dark path up the woods to see them because they live deep in the forest along the forest walls. 

We are staying in a hostel tonight in this town and tomorrow we will complete our journey to the resort! Wish us luck! 

What did we just pay for??

Today was our last day in Christchurch before we set foot into our new journey. Right now the city is holding a giant festival to raise money to fix some of the earth quake destruction. We thought we would go check it out and we came across some very interesting characters...

We paid three dollars to see Rubberband Boy, I don't know what we were expecting, but it wasn't this! This man holds the world record for the most rubber bands on his head... In case you're wondering, that number is 78. 

Then we went to a fortune teller. He... Or she? had a hilarious fake Scottish accent and told us many times how connected we are to the universe. She told Hannah that she needed to stop being cheap and upgrade to business class on the airplane. She told Johnathan to climb up a hazelnut tree, play a flute, wait for the fairies, and then he will be more naughty. She told me that John was holding me back from watching Game of Thrones and that I need to point and shake a finger at him (she may be referring to the Janer point). And to make full circle, Rubberband Boy took this photo of us! 

It was another beautiful day! Sunny and 70 degrees! Tomorrow starts our new journey. We have a very sudden change of plans. We are now heading to the west coast to live and work at a place called The Rainforest Retreat. Update to come on how we figure out how to get there... In the mean time enjoy this picture of a lovely flower

Toodiling around Christchurch

And our adventure continues! We didn't have much of a plan for today so we decided to get some groceries and then just start wondering around. It was very warm day so we wanted to find a place to go kayaking. We ended up at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens and spent the afternoon kayaking and walking around. It was a beautiful day! I came back to the hostel completely sunburnt but it was totally worth it! 

We thought we would be crafty and go down a secret little waterway... We just got struck and ambushed with raspberries thorns 

Smile Hannah! 

Our fellow hostel mate, Jonathan. He tagged along for the day and gave us all sorts of backpacking knowledge 

We were hoping it was a flower shower... It ended up just being a metal flower

What a tree hugger... Although who wouldn't want to hug this one??

Part of the Botanical Gardens