So I've been living in Franz Josef for over 3 weeks now. It's a gorgeous area and a seriously teeny tiny town. There are about 400 people living here right now and it is the peak of summer. The whole town revolves around the glacier.
Rainforest Rainbow
Yep, we have caves
We ran out of toilet paper and this was my view on the way to the store.
Lake Mapourika
I'm currently living in a 4 bedroom house with 3 glacier guides. However, I'm about to move to a new place to live with one of my fellow receptionist friends. It's been so nice to have a home base, but also a closet!!
I HAVE A CLOSET!!!!
So I’m a receptionist for two places in Franz Josef. One is Glacier Guides and the other is the
Glacier Hot Pools. I work 3 days a week
at Guides and 2 at the Hot Pools. And
trust me that’s the perfect balance.
Glacier Guides is intense.
I work 10 hours a day and I really work.
I start at 8am checking people into their trips to the glacier and I
don’t stop until about 2:00. We have two
receptionists check in over 500 people in 6 hours. It’s absolute mayhem!! After the craziness I
get lunch and I spend the remaining four hours making bookings via phone,
email, and in person at the front desk. A couple times a week I also have to help with boot-ups. This means I'm in charge of getting 11 people from all over the world into all the gear to go up on the ice, get them weighed in at the heli-station and down to the heli-pad in time for take off. It might sound easy but giving 5 different nationalities the right shoe size in 10 minutes, or having old men ask you if they can go to the bathroom at the exact moment that their helicopter is landing can be very stressful.
We run 26 helicopter flights to the glacier every day and
for the last two weeks every single one has been full. BUT because our business is dependent on
helicopters and helicopters can’t fly if it’s rainy or cloudy or windy (and FJ
is smack dab in the middle of the rainforest) we cancel a lot of flights. It’s not easy to tell people that their one
chance to hike on a glacier just went out the window because some clouds moved
into the valley but it happens a couple times a week. I’ve had people cry, offer to pay to get a
private flight, and other bizarre reactions.
I’ve only worked here for 3 weeks and I have a million weird stories.
The hot pools are a different story. They are basically 3 hot tubs that are 36,
38, and 40 degrees Celsius (I dunno what that is in Farenheit but it’s hot tub
temperature for sure). We also offer
private pools and a bunch of spa things like waxing, massages and facials. Hot pools gets busy too because every person
who hikes on the ice gets free entry BUT it’s a much more zen
vibe. Hiking on the glacier seems to feel
like life and death to most tourists while visiting the hot pools is just an
extra treat. I work reception, monitor
the pools to make sure no one drowns (or falls asleep), and escort people to
their private pools. It’s definitely a
nice change of pace from the crazy hectic vibes at Glacier Guides.
Waiting for my Heli-Hike group to return
I laminated at 365, I laminated at the prison and now I'm... yep laminating
Hot Pools before we opened! It's wayyyy more zen when no one is here.
One of the three restaurants in town threw a big party for Chinese New Year. All the businesses in town decorated for the event because about 85% of the tourists in February were Chinese. I've never been anywhere that took Chinese New Year so seriously. The whole town had been looking forward to this night for weeks. Shout out to King Tiger for throwing a great party! There was a huge buffet, wishing lanterns, fireworks, and fire dancing!!
Not one person understood my Tangled references!!
My roommate Sharn and her fire whips!!
So this vlog is super awkward. It's really hard to film in a town when everywhere you go there is someone you know. It's easier to vlog around strangers because I don't care what they think about me haha
