I guess a lot of places can be referred to as “a land of contrasts”, but in my estimation, New Zealand should definitely be at the top of the list.  On one hand you’ve got the beautiful beaches and flat farm lands, and on the other you’ve got the jagged peaks of the Southern Alps which are chock full of glaciers, amazing vistas, and beautiful fjords (even though they’re named ’sounds’)… and that’s just on the South Island!

    One such glacier is the Franz Josef Glacier, which is an incredible site to see without a doubt.  This particular glacier is apparently one of the fastest moving on the planet (about ten times faster then typical glaciers), pretty neat stuff!  You can definitely hear a lot of popping and cracking going on when you’re near it.  Another interesting thing about the glacier is that it’s surrounded by rainforest… not what you’d expect to see, but then again, this is a land of contrasts.

    The Albino Bowler got a chance to climb around on the glacier while I took pictures (I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to punch out a notch in a glacier with a rock before… but let me just tell you… it ain’t easy).
– Dan Thompson
If you’d like to see more pictures from this trip, go here: danandholly.com (thealbinobowler.com makes no guarantees as to the content of externally linked sites)

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