New Zealand – Franz Josef Glacier

January 15, 2024

Today I am leaving Queenstown to head to Franz Josef to hike to the glacier. I started the day with a sunrise walkabout in Queenstown to enjoy the quaint town. Today’s trip takes me through Mount Aspiring National Park and then the western coastline Going to be another long day of twisting roads but the sun is out so it should be fun.

We made several stops that broke up the day that included some interesting attractions like the border collie statue that honors their work in building the sheep industry in New Zealand., a map of New Zealand made out of flip flops, and a the kitschy cafe with all the musical instruments on the wall.

The beautiful mountains and lakes quickly turned spectacular coastline .

We stopped for lunch a a salmon farm that had multiple tanks of salmon all swimming in a counter clockwise circle. There were four tanks The fish progress though the baby tank to the “I’m Lunch” tank as they grow. My fellow travelers who had salmon for lunch said it was the freshest they ever had!!!

We arrive in Franz Josef mid afternoon and I took the shuttle up to the glacier and did the hike that gets you to a viewing point. The Franz Josef Glacier is a 12-kilometre-long temperate maritime glacier in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. 20 years ago the glacier come to the point where I am standing in the picture and now it is just the top of the hill. I wish I had the time to do the helicopter ride over the glacier for a better viewing but sadly the daylight ran out and I leave early in the morning for my next leg of the trip.

The metal shack is where in 1930’s the adventurers bunked before heading up the glacier.