Franz Josef

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January 10th 2009

Published: January 13th 2009

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lizzyw

P1010917

The Franz Josef (Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere in Māori) is a 12 km long glacier located in Westland National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Together with the Fox Glacier 20 km to the south, it is unique in the fact that it descends from the Southern Alps to less than 300 metres above sea level amidst the greenery and lushness of a temperate rainforest. It is also one of only three glaciers to come so close to a coastline, with love from Wikipedia.

So I set off on my full day hike up Franz Josef glacier, kitted out with "rain" pants, crampons etc etc and fell over within 5 minutes on some rocks, about a mile from the glacier. Ow. I got a nice bloody knee which didn't hurt too much but made me very cautious. The guide didn't reckon I could actually do the hike all the way up to the glacier so I made it all the way to the edge of the glacier only to walk back again.

The glacier was completely different from the one I went on in Canada, way more hard core but at least it's not like