Day 4: Kayaking - Franz Josef

Kayaking it is!!!! Actually, this choice wasn't weather dependent...we woke in the morning to learn it was forecast to rain, so we decided to hike the glacier (which we heard is fine to do in the rain), then pray for clear skies tomorrow (since kayaking is really best without rain which screws up the reflectiveness of the lake). However, the half day hike was all booked. Franz Josef is so small that there is only one hiking company. Apparently its rare that they are all booked up, but no worries. We decided to just head over and talk to the Wayne, the man that runs the kayaking tours (and the internet cafe) about a minute walk down the main/only road, however, he wasn't there. Upon returning to the hostel, we find out that Wayne just decides when he wants to work and randomly takes time off to travel and such, leaving tourists without internet or kayaking! We learn Wayne hasn't been in his shop the past couple days, so at this point, either Wayne is just sleeping in and will be in later (time essentially doesn't exist in Franz Josef) or he's actually gone and we're out of luck for kayaking. We head back to our room and chill for an hour, then decide to check back in on Wayne...who has finally arrived at work!!! By 10am we are all layered up and boarding his van heading out to Lake Mapourika about 10 minutes away.

Ok lets be honest...we did have time to pose for a quick picture in front of our adorable hostel before loading up...


Our gear includes these amazing "splash guards," which pretty much snapped into the kayak creating a seal so we didn't get wet! So awesome (and attractive right?)

(you don't have you lie ... I know you're jealous)

We opted for the guided tour, instead of just renting kayaks, so Wayne and the four of us headed out for a 3 hour-ish adventure (and work out...the lake is HUGE!)



Due to a little bit of bad weather, we didn't get an entirely reflective lake experience on the big part of the lake like some of the pictures we had seen, but Wayne led us into this little forest area where it was absolutely breath-taking.

We headed into the forest in a group, stopped for lunch, then each of us headed back individually a couple minutes apart so we could experience the reflection. It was so crazy!

Reunited after our individual trips through the forest :)

Looking back on the trip, we got the best of both world. We had a nice little workout and 'experience' paddling through some rough waters, and we also witnessed the amazing features of the reflective lake! In addition to a CD of pictures from our day, Wayne also included some of his pictures from calmer days on the lake, so we even have those too! Here are some of those:


Tomorrow its GLACIER HIKING!! Our tickets are already booked so rain or shine we're going!