Kayaking in a unique enviroment, Franz Josef

The afternoon tour has gone out and even with it’s raining in the village, it fine on Lake Mapourika.  The rain is starting to set in for the evening.  My work day will end after the tour gets back at 8pm.  This evening my brother Wayne is cooking dinner so that means something spicey.  I’ll spend my evening in my carvan watching tv and texting with friends.  It’s not hard to feel old here or as they say a nana.  I like my our company so i’m one of the lucky ones that don’t have to go out night after night spend what little money they have made on booze.  Or been chatted up by some guy who just wants to get layed.  Well that doesn’t happen that offen now i’m over 40 haha. In tourist town’s like Franz booze and one night stands are the norm, which in some ways is nice to see because a large number of tourist are aged between 18 & 25 and they should enjoy themselves before they settle down with jobs and the real world.

Well it’s another day on the coast, the sun was out for awhile now overcast and big black clouds in the sky just waiting to dump more rain on us.  We have two people on a heli hike paddle combo 2day and with luck they when on the 9.30am trip.  Don’t think the kayaks will be paddling this afternoon but in Franz we don’t count it out until it happens.  People don’t to seem to understand that on the coast we get more rain in summer then we do in winter so it pays to allow a couple of days when your planning a trip.  In saying that the weather can change quickly and we get more rain in Franz Josef village then we do out at Lake Mapourika where our kayaks trips paddle.  The beauty of Lake Mapourika is that it’s always changing, one moment still and calm and the next moody and dramatic. We are very lucky to be able to paddle in a National Park located between the Glaciers and the Sea.

I’ve started this blog not because I’ve got alot to said but because i can.  I don’t have a very interesting life.  I live in Franz Josef working for my older brother in his kayaking business, Glacier Country Kayaks.  I’m back in Franz after been away in Dunedin for a number of years driving a taxis.  Franz is a very transience town with tourist passing through both working and visiting.  The coast is a place you love or hate there’s are no in between, when you live here.