April 16, 2009

I love rain. I especially love it in summer. Do I love it on April 16 2009? NO!

Thanks to the monsoon that was currently going on, our stay in FRANZ JOSEF, NZ was completely ruined! Franz Josef is a little village that’s whole purpose is for one and only one reason…the Franz Josef glacier, one of 2 famous glacier’s throughout the entire country.  Our plan was to spend 8 hours on a guided tour and walk of the glacier. Unfortunately, our plan had to be cancelled (luckily we got a refund!) due to the rain.

I have NEVER seen rain like I did in FJ. It was incredible. From the wee hours of 5am to 4pm, it poured. Not once did it even slow down. I’m surprised we didn’t float away. It was a sad day. All four of us were anxiously awaiting the experience to hang out on a glacier.  To pass the time, we made some good dinners, read, played games, and went to bed early. Not much more you can do when it’s pouring!

In the afternoon, it finally stopped raining around 4pm.  I went for a run (it took me 8 minutes to get around the entire village!) and thank goodness I did. The clouds had disappeared and the glacier was in sight!! I ran back to Chateau Franz (our hostel) and grabbed my friends and we went on a photo frenzy. I have about a billion of the same shots. Ha. We were just so excited to actually see what we were supposed to be climbing.