New Zealand - Franz Josef

Back to Richard.
After a ten hour bus journey from Nelson down the west coast we arrived in the glacier town of Franz Josef- named so by the Austrian explorer Haast. He named it after the Austrian emperor of that period, which made a nice change considering he named most of the southern south island after himself- a modest man. The journey gave us a chance to get acquainted with some of the South Island scenery, which we had heard all the way through our North Island leg is much more superior. All we can say, with the highest regards to the North Island, is that the scenery was absolutely awe inspiring- seemingly a million miles away from expansive miles of mundane British motorways, granted they get you to your destination in a lot shorter time. It seems New Zealand roads are built to compliment their surroundings while giving the driver too much to look at around them (New Zealand bus drivers truly have the best offices in the world). On route we had chance for two quick stop offs in Punakaiki and Hokitika- Punakiki is famous for it’s pancake rocks and blowholes, a series of rocks that have been formed by weathering processes- a quick 15 minute walk around the park gives some spectacular views, though to be honest it was a nice day with relatively calm seas, so the blowholes weren’t quite as active as our driver informed us they could be.




From Punakiki we headed to Hokitika, a very small and sleepy seaside resort (though I hear it‘s bustling in the summer months). For some reason I felt as if we were in a modernised version of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Anyway we spent our time strolling along the expansive beachfront and in one of my wiser moments I decided to stand quite close to the sea- I may add the tide was quite far away from me at that time- the result was me getting wet which Jen found hilarious. A quick note waterproof shoes are great unless the water gets in from the top.



Anyway after a long and very tiring drive with a slightly erratic driver we arrived in Franz Josef, a town that markets itself on one thing, the glacier- even though it is one of 3000+ in NZ.

To get your bearings in Franz Josef takes a few minutes (it’s really that small), we decided as we hadn’t had the chance to see any gloworms yet, that we would take this FREE chance to see them. We headed out with our head torch to the 5-10 minute bush walk just outside town; the path was pitch black and Jen was a little frightened but as we got further in we found the overturned branch with about 20-30 little gloworms inside (no picture unfortunately), granted it probably wasn’t as exciting as the thousands you’d see in Waitoma, but it was still pretty cool.

Our first and last day in Franz Josef was a day we had been looking forward to for sometime now and probably one of the things we had already picked as being our highlight of our trip- the day we walked on the glacier. I think we were slightly concerned we’d miss things as we’d chosen to do the half day walk, mainly due to costs. A feeling that we really didn’t have after completing. The half day walk was well worth it and not half as difficult as we’d expected bar the original ascent onto the ice and the nimble rock climbing pieces, though there were many people older than us that managed it.

The walk itself lasted just over four hours with two hours spent on the glacier itself, the first and last hour is spent walking through the regenerated rainforest and the valley. Once out on the valley you get the first view of the glacier.



At first we were confused as they said the walk to the glacier from the car park would last an hour and the walk through the forest had only been 10 - 15 minutes, until a guide told us about what is the greatest optical illusion we have ever seen- due to the mass of ice on the glacier it seems much closer than it is (hopefully the picture does this justice); the point where we were stood to take the picture was approximately 45 minutes from the Glacier. When we got our gear on (the guides provide you with coats, hats, gloves, boats, socks and the essential Crampons) we began our walk along the glacier, taking in some great views while we were up there, both of the glacier and the surrounding areas.






On the way down we met one of the southern islands’ mischievous locals, known for tearing rubber of cars- the Kea (it looks like a Parrot).



After our not so stressful walk we decided to go and have a relaxing afternoon in the Glacier Mountain Pools in the 40 degree waters- Jen however preferred the Tauranga hot salt pools, though admittedly the Franz Josef setting of lush rainforest was nicer.

Next up Wanaka, an area we were equally excited about for a completely different reason, read on.