Franz Josef Glacier -> Greymouth

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18th Feb 2009
The town of Franz Josef is basically a stop for tourists who want to visit the glacier. It is a collection of motels and bars and not much else. We made an early start and drove to the car park at the start of the footpath to Franz Josef Glacier. The start of the trek is on a flat footpath and is very easy going but it soon meets the pebble river bed of what is the beginning of the Waiho river and it becomes a bit tricky to keep your footing. After a 40 minute walk we reach the last safe point to view. The glacier is some 7 miles long and descends from a region of perpetual snow down to a rain forest. At one time in its history it met the sea.

We hear stories about a pair of young Americans who visited the glacier with their parents. Apparently the parents asked their sons to pose in front of the glacier for a picture. Sadly the front slab of the glacier came away and crushed them. One was pulled out dead the other was washed down river some time later. The glacier looks very stable and static but it actually moves 5 feet down every day under its own weight.

We walk back to the car and start the drive to Greymouth. The drive takes us along the west coast and we get glimpses of the Tasman Sea. We pass through a small town called Ross that was once famous for its gold prospecting. We finally arrive at Greymouth, the largest town on the west coast. It has a large flood wall known as the great wall of Greymouth. Although we are staying in nicest of all the motels in truth Greymouth is probably the least impressive of the towns we have visited, there is simply nothing to do here.

We stayed at Coleraine

A map of our route

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Photos

Franz Josef Glacier
One of the few glaciers in the world that reaches down to sea level

Motel
There wasn't anything to photograph in Greymouth and our motel was the nicest building around

Comments

[mr red]

Greymouth
I did warn you about it!!