Laura, our STA Explorer known as Having a Ball from NZ to SE Asia (might need to abbreviate that…) has trekked the Franz Josef glacier!

There are two updates on what she’s been doing in New Zealand (Sunshine and sand flies in Abel Tasman and ‘P’ Party at the Poo Pub) before we get to the hike, a hike that was nearly called off – a case of rain stopped play, but not quite. Despite torrential rain and biting cold Laura and boyfriend Jamie donned the waterproofs and set off,

“It’s in between two steep cliffs, and because of the rain there was dozens of waterfalls running down which looked amazing. The hike itself wasn’t too bad, much harder on the way up obviously but got quite a few breaks while our guide cuthas steps into the ice for us to walk up! Didn’t stop raining the whole day and was absolutely freezing, but I was glad we did it as the ice looks amazing - a mix of white and deep blue.”

The bad weather didn’t ruin what for them was a once in a life time opportunity. On returning from Franz Josef a dip in the hostels spa pool thawed them out before they headed to the bar to celebrate their ‘glacier triumph!’ Awesome work.