West Coast to Franz Josef 1st- 4th March

West Coast to Franz Josef 1st- 4th March

After heading down the West Coast via the Punakaiki "Pancake rocks", Greymouth and Hokitika we reach Franz Josef. It feels a bit like a ski resort to me, the further South we go the colder it's been getting and now the first glimpse of snow on the mountains.

The weather's being uncooperative next morning (a phenomenon I'm no longer used to after so much time in Australia!) and the helicopters are grounded due to too much cloud. That was how I'd planned to get up onto the glacier. I hopefully re-book then head for a walk up to the glacier face. You can't get very close - the face is too unstable to be safe and some tourists have died previously- so we're back behind the safety barriers. There's no safe way to walk onto Franz Josef glacier at present, access is only by helicopter.

Back along the valley floor where meltwater forms an icy river and small waterfalls course down the steep valley sides to the rainforest- one of the unique features.


Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, just 2 of about 60 in New Zealand, are unusual because their terminal faces are at rainforest level giving them World Heritage status. They're also some of the fastest moving glaciers in the world.

Finally on the 3rd re-booking the helicopter trip goes ahead. We fit crampons and spend a few hours hiking up the ice, admiring deep, blue coloured crevasses and squeezing through a few ice tunnels, spotting a chamois on the valley scree slopes. Glaciers are almost alive, there's constant noise of water running and dripping, as the middle flows faster that the edges there are creaks and groans as ice cracks and shifts.

Luckily the cloud stays high enough for the helicopter to pick us up again and it's back to the ground and for me a short bus trip to the small Fox glacier village. I cycle out to Lake Matheson - mirror lake where the reflections of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman can be seen when the elements are cooperating.