I just got in from work. I was going to do heli-hikes but it was raining too much so they were all canciled. I ended up spending the morning cleaning and then did a 2pm half day walk with 11 israelies.
It was really funny one of them was a 90 yr old man. He was not a super fast walker and was a little wobbly on his feet but he made it up on top without falling over (much).

plus the tour leader was so happy i got a 20$ tip.
now i have 2 days off and am not sure what to do with myself.

HI Guys
This is just a quickie before i go to work. I have a pile of photos to upload but not the time now.

This was the sunset from my bedroom window a few days ago.









This is the view from 3/4 of the way up the mountain i had a go at climbing last monday.













This is a cool moody ice and cloud photo from when i went to Franz Joseph Glacier a couple of weeks ago.

I am having trouble uploading photos, so I can't put any in this post.
I have been a busy boy since is last posted. I have been ice climbing at Franz Joseph, which is another glacier, about 20km north of my town. I have been up on Heli-hikes, climbed a small mountain near my place and today i spent a day working on the track. Track means you go up on the ice and you have to dig out steps in the ice with a big miners pick. It is hard work, usually you start at about 730 and finish about 11. Today however i did the normal track then went up and dug out the day line. The normal track is just the part where the half day hikes go but the day line is a big loop further up on the glacier and it winds through big crevasses and stuff. It is very cool but very hard work. So today i was swinging my pick from 8am till 330pm. I am feeling very fucked now. my wrists and forearms are toasted and tomorrow i am co-guiding a day hike which means alot more step cutting.

I am not sure why i am having probs with the photos they may be too big so i am trying a smaller file to see if that works better. It is not working so you will have to wait for photos.
sorry

hugs
malc

Crazy Kea

we get these parrots around the area i live and work. They are called Kea. This one was in the carpark at the glacier as i was coming home with a group. it was chewing on someones ski bag. they are pretty crazy and damn cool.




























looking up the glacier towards Chancelor Dome.













The group i took up onto the ice today










same pic as the two from yesterday but not so much cloud so looks nice.

These two photos were taken about 4hrs apart. It was snowing for a while in the morning up high. I had a group which i took up to the glacier about 2pm and it started snowing in the carpark and i took the photo on the left when i got back about 430pm. The heli hikes were stuck on the ice for a while because of whiteout conditions up on Victoria Flats half way up the glacier.

I just got in from dinner with my neighbours. A group of about 11 guides who live near by turned up. I cooked a yummy dessert (i am sure custard is supposed to have smokey undertones). This is the night sky outside my house.

This morning i walked up one of the local creeks. I went up as far as i could until i hit some water falls and then had to try and climb up some slips. The slips just went into shitty scrubby bush that was too hard to push through so i came back down. The photo is the view back towards town which you can see on the the flat.







This is my house i am the one in the middle. If you come to visit turn left into Cook Flat road. Take the first left turn into Pekanga Drive. my house is the last on the left. There are four units, mine is in the middle of the block of 3, there is also a stand alone 2bedroom unit on the same section.






Damn I am "SEXY"

I am back.

Well as promised in my last blog i did get a laptop and a connection in Fox. The reason it has been a while since i blogged in is cos i lost the cable to my camera and could not download all these lovely pictures on to my nice new laptop.

Today is my day off so i got off my bum and had a look for the cable. It was in the box with my crampons?????? i have no idea what posessed me to put it there???




So these last two photos are from the beach not too far from my place. They are taken at sunset. I am thinking of bringing some of my fishing gear from mum and dad's cos some of the people from work catch some quite nice fish down here.











This is about 15mins bike from my place. I think this must be one of the best places in the world to go skydiving. The whole ride must be like a senic flight.














I had some time off work so i did a quick trip down to milford sound. This is shot from the boat.


















Check out the wildlife

















This one was quite cool. The boat parked just under it.
















As i was head Nth through the Lindis pass I saw 3 deer less than 50 meters from the road.
I did a U-turn to go back and have a better look and 2 more popped up.











It is kinda funny cos the last few times i have driven through here has been on the way back home from shooting trips. The one time i see wild deer right next to the road i don't have my rifle in the car. Good thing really don't want to get in trouble shooting from the car.








The mountain just to the right at the end of the road is Mt Cook which is NZ's highest Mt. It is kinda cool to see it from this side (east)of the island cos i can also see it down by my place in Fox (west).










Another shot of Cook (Aoraki) from the end of lake pukaki.












To finish off my days off i went up to Mt Hutt on last time for the season. This is Hayden cutting up the field.

I ended up getting 3 days in on my seasons pass. At $460 for the pass that works out as just over $150 per day. That is double what i would have paid if i had just bought day passes eash time i went. FUCK.