The centre set up bu a man named Peter Salter to explain to others the west coast way of life. The first part of the museum tour was a video showing the hunt and eradication of the deer that were released into New Zealand by Europeans in the 18th century to add "diversification" to the landscape. What actually happened was that the deer destroyed the natural environment of NZ and needed to be controlled because the population ballooned quickly. So these crazy Kiwis hunted the deer for the venison market, on foot and by helicopter using 303 rifles.
Eventually when the population got so low and the market for venison still demanded a supply of venison, these Kiwis invented a net gun to catch the deer to use in farming to keep the supply up for the venison market. Sometimes to catch the deer, men would just jump out of helicopters on the the backs of deer, pull them down and hog tie them. Basically an insane version of steer wrestling, but with a helicopter and a deer. Kiwis are crazy! Pretty neat story of how the deer farming industry began in NZ - which now brings in revenues of around $260 million to the New Zealand agriculture industry.
We pulled into Franz Josef around 2 pm and checked into the hostel. Jack and Morgan went on a kayaking tour for a couple hours on Lake Mapourika while I chilled out in the hostel and tried to nurse a sore shoulder from an old injury. Tomorrow we do an 8 hour hike on the Franz Josef Glacier - the fastest moving glacier in the world - moving at 5 meters per day. Should be a good time! So Kia Ora for now! Another blog post in a few days hopefully!
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