Christchurch and Franz Josef

Christchurch is a quaint city, very English. It's also a starting point for Antarctic teams heading down to the South Pole. We went to the Antarctic Center where you can go in the "ice room" and they simulate an Arctic storm. IT WAS SO FREAKING COLD! Alex thought it was great fun but I almost ran for the door! We took the TransAlpine train from Chch which was gorgeous. These little photos don't do it justice. The color of the water in the rivers is a beautiful turquoise color. I was told it is because of silica that comes from the glaciers. I can't get over it! Beautiful!

Franz Josef is a VERY small town mostly catering to glacier tours and adventure outings. We did the Helicopter ride and landed up on Fox Glacier. It was a PERFECT day for it. I guess it is sunny about 4 days a year here and we were there for 3 of them! Lucky! It was so cool to get to see the glaciers up close. I wanted to do the heli-hike but Joe wasn't having any of that. I later talked to a girl who had done it and was glad I hadn't as a guy from her group fell off the cliff! No major injuries but, yikes! I saw some other less glamorous pics of the tour too and the people were literally holding on to a rope while walking along a cliff - no thanks!Well, this may be my last post...we are doing our bungy jump today! 440 ft, 8.5 seconds of free fall! I'm terrified thinking about it! More to follow...hopefully!