Blogs from Franz Josef, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 9

When I saw pictures of my friends doing glacier hike in Facebook, I’m determined I will do it one day. And then when planning the trip, I realized there is more than one choice. The famous options are: Franz Josef Glacier or Fox Glacier. I googled up view images and see the videos as well – and decided to do the Franz Josef. Why? Well, from what I read – the Fox Glacier requires more bush walking before you’re in front of the glacier itself. Besides, Franz Josef looks bigger. I already set my expectation that the glacier will not be all blue like in the cartoon. From what I saw in the internet, it will actually be dusty grey with dirt everywhere. And indeed that was the case. Well, unless you climb really far up, ... read more

This is a work in progress... Thursday 8th Dec Leaving the National Park, we made our way to Wellington. I've not heard great things about Wellington and I'm not particularly exciting so I'm really pleasantly surprised when we get there to find a buzzing, bustling (by NZ standards), but equally chilled city by the sea. We book into Base hostel in the centre and get a room on the 6h floor with fantastic views over the harbor. we leave tomorrow bright and early to catch the 7am ferry but I stay out drinking with new friends regardless. We go to a weird bar called 'Alice', down a dodgy back alley and feel like we're the only ones that know about this place as we are taken there by locals. We arrive and are led down a ... read more

Leaving Fjordland, making our way to the west coast, we crossed over the southern alps, and started to head north again. The first spectacle is glacier country, with the Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier. Glaciers, next to rainforest, next to ocean. Amazing. Further up the coast, along a rollercoaster winding road like none I've ever experienced before, along the open ocean and through dense rainforest, there are the punakaiki rocks, another geological phenomenon. This is one of the most awesome coastal ocean drives imagineable.... read more

Made it to the glacier! It was a rather cloudy day but we went to see the terminus. The glacier is actually growing, which is really interesting. The glaciers are very sensitive since they are maritime and they recede and grow accordingly. They had a lot of snowfall 5 years ago and as a result it is growing now. Couldn't get too close though because of rock and ice fall. Since we didn't want to upset their rangers by going on the glacier we went to investigate an old tunnel that was built to divert water to an area they were panning for gold in. It was 200 meters long and had just enough water in that we had to take off our boots and barefoot it. Very cool. Glow worms made up their own constellations ... read more

Stray Second week adventures! Another day, another road trip.. this time leaving Taupo and making our way over to the Blue Duck Station in Whakahoro (pronounced f***-a-whore.. much to everyones amusement!). We stopped off at Taupo Bungy as some of our group wanted the morning adrenaline fix. Always fun watching them, especially the big guys who are most scared! We then took a leisurely cruise up to the farm, which is the most remote area of the North Island.. Nice drive up there, and we were assured the scenery is spectacular, although the rain was so bad we couldn’t see much! Upon arrival, Wendy who helps run the lodge gave us a rundown on the history and all the conservation stuff they get up to. The place was stunning - we had 9000 acres to explore! ... read more