I want to see mountains again, Gandalf. Mountains!

I hadn't really thought what I'd wanted to see in Nelson before I got there, except that I knew the Abel Tasman National Park was just around the corner, and you could explore it either on foot, by kayak, or with a water taxi, from Motueka, Kaiteriteri, or Marahau. Since I didn't have the luxury of money to waste on such extravagances as water taxis, I had to walk, and the closest access point to the park was Marahau. So early on Thursday morning, I got up, made meat and cheese sandwiches, and caught the bus I'd booked the night before to the Abel Tasman.

The area of land that the Park occupies is very mountainous and packed with dense forest, and we could see it from the bus all the way there. Our driver that day was a complete joker. He was part French, and so had very particular views about Nelson (named after Admiral Horatio of Trafalgar fame), and the surrounding townships, such as Richmond, which we drove through. Anyway, we made our way to Marahau, along some fairly precarious and potentially icy roads, and on arrival...just wow.

I've been really lucky with the stunning weather conditions I've had all the way along my journey down the South Island, and that morning, although bracing, was simply beautiful. We landed at a beach with the tide out, and I started my walk across it all the way to Anchorage Bay, a point in the AT about 12km from where I was, which I would have to get to and from within 7 hours.

So I walked the journey, across a beach, through forest paths, constantly ascending and descending following the terrain. I found an iced over pond on the beach, which refused to break despite my best efforts to smash the surface with various logs around the area. It was only when I tried stepping out onto the ice that it chose to splinter and break up. Great. There were some phenomenal views of the beaches all the way along, and the gorgeous turquoise sea that reached out to Fisherman Island, and its bigger brother, Adele Island.

Eventually I made it to Anchorage Bay, and sat down on the frosty sand to have my sandwiches and almond-flavoured Dairy Milk. I wish I'd had the time and money to explore the area more. If you want, you can pitch a tent to stay overnight, or book a bed in any of the huts and lodges throughout the park, and the water looked great for kayaking. There are also seals and penguins further up, but we're talking 20 km north from where I was, and I didn't have that sort of time to get back to the bus.

The walk back was a bit more laborious than I had hoped. I was working against the clock, thinking I'd come too far, and I'd already seen everything once before, but it was nice in the different light of the late afternoon.

Anyway, I got back fine, had noodles and pasta for dinner, and then watched The Bourne Identity, Shaun of the Dead, and Meet the Fockers, before going to bed, ready to get up early for the TEN hour journey to Fox Glacier the next day.

And what a journey. We stopped several times along the way, stopping for longer at Punakaiki, to see some crazily shaped "pancake rocks" and blowholes that didn't blow like they were supposed to, and then Hokitika, a town just short of the mountains of the Western Alps.

We pulled into the "town" of Fox Glacier at sunset, and the driver was kind enough to take me to the door of my hostel. Except, it wasn't really a hostel, more an inn which seemed more suited as a stopover point. It definitely did not cater for backpackers. The showers were a mess; the kitchen was a mess, and only had one knife; but at least I had a dorm room all to myself.

I made sandwiches for myself in the morning again - ham, pastrami, cheese, and apple - and then walked to the Fox Glacier Guiding building around the corner, foolishly not taking my skiing jacket assuming that the idea was to be suited up once there. And I was kind of suited up. I got waterproof trousers, it was just that the fleece and jacket they gave me seemed a bit crap compared to my ski jacket. Oh well. We were given boots, crampons, and thick socks too, and then given a pep talk about what we were going to do that day, before all 16 of us there (three from my hostel) got a bus to the base of the valley where Fox Glacier was located.

We split into two groups of 8. My guide was called Sam, and he had been guiding for just over a year. Apparently they mix it up, so that they get to do the helihikes, ice climbs, or half-day walks, as well as the all-day walks, which I was doing. We started our journey up to a barrier from where we could see the glacier sitting nicely in the valley. The sign there said "Danger, do not cross", but we proceeded anyway, starting across the valley floor from where we could see huge boulders that had rolled down the mountain sides destroying everything in their path, and ended up just short of the terminal face of the glacier. Apparently earlier that morning part of the glacier had broken off, evident from the huge ice chunks on the ground, and the different colour at the breakage point.

After admiring the view from the floor, we moved towards the rainforest on the side of the glacier, and climbed 800 steps through exotic plants, past the worlds largest species of daisy, and along a narrow stairway next to a 300 ft drop, before we reached the ice. Once on the surface of the glacier, we fitted our crampons, and Sam, with his trusty pickaxe, led us off the pre-sculpted trail, and started carving steps through the ice.

It was amazing being out there, amongst a totally new and fresh landscape, working our way around crevasses while Sam kept scouting ahead to find neat new things for us to look at. He occasionally chipped some ice away to fall down what looked like small holes, only to hear the echo several seconds later. He also liked finding moulins, holes in the ice that had been formed by the wind, and that also acted as channels for melt water to flow through. There were a couple which he would get his rope out and explore before letting us work our way down individually to climb into and have a look.

It was fairly spectacular.

After trekking for a couple of hours, we had lunch, and after what seemed like an age, the sun came out, just as we were exploring a moulin that went so deep the ice was green at the bottom of it.

So we made our way around the glacier some more, Sam constantly using his axe as we went. We stumbled upon an ice-climbing group too, and they had such nice crampons. It was hell walking around in the ones we had, just because I wasn't used to them I suppose, but it was still a pain setting your foot down only to wobble on it and have your legs buckle from side to side. But all in all it was fun.

Eventually we had to get off the ice, just because it was almost sunset, and after that point it would be difficult to navigate our way back, whilst the temperature would start dropping to below freezing. It was a great adventure, and spectacular. I don't know what more I can say about it, other than it was an amazing experience.