Franz Josef & Fox Glaciers
We left Rangoria and headed northwest across the Southern Alps through Arthur's Pass.  The scenery was awesome, made even more striking by the low clouds.
   
 Pretty, but not good flying weather.
   
We spent a lot of time in the Rav4 on the South Island.
   
Other than Auckland city, virtually all the roads in New Zealand are two-line highways.   Speed limit was 100 km (62 mph).  But in the mountains the roads curve a lot and you have to slow down.  As a result, my planning was off because I had underestimated how long it would take to drive each day.
   
The sky was overcast or cloudy on the east side of the mountains but on the west side it was nice and clear.
   
Now we were driving southwest on the west coast and are looking east at the Southern Alps.
   
We stopped at the little town of Hokitika for lunch.  We went into this little pizza place, and discovered that part of their dining room was out back overlooking the ocean.
   
The pizza was as good as the view!
   
We checked out the beach behind the pizza place.   The sticks spell out the name of the town:  Hokitika.
   
Looking south.
   
We pulled into the small service township of Franz Josef.  Most of the township was helicopter ride places for the nearby glacier.  Lynnette and I were going to do a "heli-hike" where a helicopter drops you off on the glacier and you do a guided hike around for a couple of hours, then the helicopter brings you back.  But we arrived too late in the day.  Unfortunately the weather was bad the next day and we couldn't do it then either.
   
Franz Josef Glacier is up there somewhere.
   
This is just one example of the many one-lane bridges we encountered.  There is a sign at each ends that tells you which direction has right of way.   Our first encounter surprised us but we soon got used to them.
   
We continued southwest a short distance to the town of Fox Glacier where our B&B was.
   

This is the view from our B&B.  The tallest mountain in New Zealand -- Mount Cook -- is just visible to the right.
   
 
   
The Fox Glacier Mountainview B&B where we stayed.  Karen, the host, was very friendly and especially knowledgeable about the local area and -- having been a tour bus driver for many years -- about New Zealand in general.
   
The view from a pond in the backyard.  Spectacular!
   
Lynnette with the Fox Glacier Mountainview B&B behind her.
   
Karen directed us to some good vantage points to check out in the remaining daylight.
   
You can really see Fox Glacier to the left.
   
We drove, then hiked, as far as we could go to the Glacier.
   
 
But we ran out of daylight.
   
It's not safe to go onto the Glacier by yourself.  They strongly recommend going with a guide.
   
The B&B has its own cow.
   
Before leaving Fox Glacier, Karen recommended a short hike through a nearby rainforest.  So we did that.  The thing that makes New Zealand Glaciers different from the rest of the worlds, is that they have rain forests at their base.
   
The rain forest was very dense.  I'm sure you would get lost immediately if you left the trail.
   
This little bird flew up to us, and then followed us for about ten minutes.  Never seen anything like it.  It probably wanted food, but we had none to give.
   
A huge rain forest tree.
   
   
Previous
Home
Next