I am Hans & this is...

...Frans Josef Glacier. No, not the Saturday Night Live Sketch Comedy from the '80s, duh. I am talking about the Big Ass Glacier in New Zealand!! It is quite a sight for sure. To be so close to a piece of history that has been around for so many thousands of years, was quite a humbling experience. Although the glacier ice has receded vastly over the last few centuries, recent conditions since the '70s has seen it advance back down the mountain. WOW! Keep up the good work and do your part everyone!

We got up this wet morning in Rapahoe, a small burb (when I say small I mean smaller than your local 7-Eleven mini mall, SMALL) just north of Greymouth on the Central West Coast. We are staying at the camp that Stacy memorialized in her last posting (get out!). It was a bit WT but the scenery was great and the facilities were all in all quite nice. We paid $24 NZ (~$19.50 US), which is about average for these motor parks. We are on an endless camping trip and its great! We've got the 1.25" think yellow(ing) foam pad and our new sleeping bags and we are roughin' it in our 2 person tent! Orange County eat your heart out! I've got Stacy Conl---err Bergdahl, the camping queen (as long as we are not too far from a hot shower ;). We both bagged a shower this fine day - is that a first...hmmm, I'll have to think about that one - and looked at each other with no real idea of what we were to stumble upon today. We were anxious to move on however, as the weird-o factor at this camp was rising on the dial as each minute past. A guy who reminded me of Doc Brown from Back to the Future had seemed to be stalking us without ever making any sort of eye contact, talking to himself and having TOO good a time in the shower stall next to mine...Check please! We were gonzo!

Stacy just bought some bright RED cross training shoes yesterday and wanted to head back to the Greymouth shop to see if maybe they had a larger size. I tried to email some of you while she was workin' it, but due to the rainy day, the internet was temporarily down, oh well, too bad for y'all! I walked toward the shop and peeked through the window and watched as I could tell by Stacy's body language that the shop guy was not having any talk about exchanges. I could see my honey getting a bit peeved, but maybe I was wrong. Uhhh...no, sure enough, no exchanges or returns, even though we could have paid our mortgage with the cost of these shoes. She was not happy, but kept her composure like a true Bergdahl ;) and we moved on down the road (highway 6 to be exact), to where we had no idea. She thinks the shoes will be fine by the way.

We drove and drove and started to see some incredible rivers washing by us that were an incredible blue green, and must have been coming from the glaciers. They were a color I'd never seen before! We found our DOC (Dept of Conservation) camping spot for the night about 15 minutes north of the Frans Josef Glacier township. Yet another hidden gem, right along a lake in a great natural setting away from any hustle and bustle (not that there is any here anyways!).

The glacier was great though. I know they've got em back home as well but it was amazing to see. It was free and they let you hike right up to the base of the thing, although they say to stop 250M before then. Yeah right! We passed the yellow ropes and forged our way across the freezing glacier river flow where all the managed groups ($100 each person) were walking. No biggie. There were small waterfalls running off the cliffs on the right side as we traversed the rocky terrain and amazingly, rain forest lining the mountainsides. Rain forest!!?! It was cold and is raining even as I speak but never uncomfortable. It definitely left a mark on my mind. There is another one down the road a bit called the FOX glacier, where they play Simpsons re-runs all day...funny. It sounds equally impressive and we may get hooked into the ice hiking, we'll see.

Anyways, more great fun every day. I really cannot wait to get that email from one of you that says, "Hey! I am coming out to join you! Where should I fly into?"

Andy signing off...