Glaciers and Jam sessions with the mayor

Yeah so the next morning I got up ridiculoisly early to pack some lunch and head over to the glacier place. (The standard peanut butter sandwich of course). Of course it was raining. The hooked us up with some cramp-ons, overpants, raincoats, and hats and gloves. I met up with the american girl, amanda and a swedish girl named pamilla. The bus dropped us and our guides off right next to what looked like a rainforest. After walking through the rainforest for a bit there was a clearing of just rocks and sure enough franz josef glacier in the backgroud. It looked really close but we were told that was an illusion because of how huge it was and that it would take us an hour and a half to get to.we hike up through the forest and finally reached the glacier. We all put on our crampons and headed up. The guides had built steps up the first part into the ice. The ice was a strange light blue color. We hiked around for a bit into all the different crevices. It wasn't cold at first until we got quite a bit higherN and then it was freezing! My gloves got sopping wet and I remembered exactly why I left NY in the middle of winter! (on a side note when I tell people I'm from ny they just assume I'm from the city. Some of them don't even know there is an entire state attached). Anyway, we clombed up some ice walls and learned the Franz josef shuffle. We ate lunch and then headed back down the glacier. There was an ice cave that we got to explore. Went back to the hostel and hopped in the sweet hot tub they had! I spent a solid hour trying to convince someone that I didn't know J-lo even though we both grew up in NY. Showered and headed over to the bar. They were having a competition to win a free Nevis Arc. The competition was that one team member was strapped to a horizontal bungee and had to grab a water bottle out of someones hand, then bungee back and the other team member had to chug a beer. Naturally I grabbed an irish girl I had met and signed up. Unfortunately people got to drunk and they cancelled the last half so I never got to go. :( it was still pretty hilarious to watch. The next day we headed to makarora. We stopped of at a glacier, thundercreek falls and the blue pools. At makarora we stayed in these little triangle shaped hut things. They were pretty sweet. We went for a walk down by the creek and just relaxed for a bit. Luckily there was a karaokee competition that night for another Nevis arc!! I thought I was screwed because it would be based on talent, but it turned out to be based on how many times you went. Each time your name got placed in a hat. I could definatly handle making a fool of myself enough times as possible in one night. Haha. I founf my partner in crime Kate from england. we rocked out YMCA, summer of 69, loveshack, and a few more. We didn't end up winning. :( The bar closed but there were rumors that the mayor was having a house party for his birthday. Not quite tru. The mayor was at the bar and when we were leaving invited us over. So off we went to the mayors house for a jam session. How random? It turns out he lived right up the road, which is good because he probably shouldn't have driven!! His house was pretty strange inside. Complete with christmas decorations and a road carpet (like one that kis play on lol). The 7 of us sat down and waited for some music. It turned out that the mayor "played" bass. He was awful!! Luckily one of the guys could play guitar and one of the girls could sing. We hung out until like 2 and then headed home.