Franz Joseph Glacier

We stopped just one night at Franz Joseph where we had booked a 3 bedroom place in a resort that was part hotel and part campsite. We scored big though as no one was in the other two rooms attached to our building so we actually got 5 rooms!! Everyone slept alone - what a treat.

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It was raining the afternoon that we arrived, so we went to the local Kiwi center and saw our first "official" kiwi, although mom and dad are fairly certain that they saw a kiwi prior. Kiwis are nocturnal and so even though this is the land of the kiwis, they are not frequently seen and close to extinct due to other predators. We then had a nice dinner and tried the whitebait fritters that are a seasonal treat. Whitebait are small fish that are caught by local fishermen for a 2 week period on the west coast of the south island. They are usually served with eggs, which didn't sound appealing to us on other opportunities. Here we tried them fried with butter. They were a bit larger than minnows and quite good if you don't look at them too close.

Franz Joseph is known for two glaciers - Franz Joseph and Fox - and they are only accessed via helicopter. An interesting fact is that these two glaciers have actually been growing since 1980, unlike many other glaciers in the world, but you don't hear much about this inconvenient truth. It is possible to walk to the base and look up, but we elected to splurge and book a helicopter ride. What a treat! Not only was the scenery spectacular but the ride was thrilling. Weather cut our planned route short, but it was more than enough, and we got some money back because we couldn't do the whole thing. All in all it was an incredible experience and well worth the price tag. To see a glacier was spectacular, the blue ice and the massive depth and amount of ice in the mountains is incredible! The sun was almost blinding, and while the weather was changing rapidly, and the clouds were rolling in, we had an amazing experience.