Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

We stop for the night at the Franz Josef Top 10 Holiday Park, which puts us within easy reach of the glacier for our next adventure. The person working at the front desk was from Germany and not a local Kiwi as with the other Holiday Parks we have stayed in. We asked him if was hard to find a job in New Zealand being a foreigner.  He said not at all, if all you are looking for is seasonal work. Both the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are in a sparsely populated area and the Holiday Parks are only open about half the year. Since seasonal workers do not receive New Zealand benefits, most Kiwis aren't interested in these jobs, so they are filled by foreigners.

In the morning we make the short drive to the Franz Josef Glacier. Although we arrive around 9:30am, the parking lot is already mostly full of other tourists' vans.

Short drive through forest to Franz Josef

Ah - there's the entrance

Just as we get all of our hiking gear on and are ready to go, the light rain becomes a steady downpour. We huddle under a covered shed at the trail head, crammed together from people from all over the world, all wondering in different languages wither to continue on or call it a day. Before the four of us have come to a decision, the rain lets up some, so we decide to chance the hike to the Glacier as we do have our rain gear on.

Mark ventures out into the rain

The clouds start to lift a bit over the glacier

First we hike through a thick fern forest

Soon we are passing many different waterfalls

some from amazing heights

Then we follow a rocky stream along glacier craved rock faces

and into a wide glacier valley with colorful rocks

covered in green mosses and orange lichens

The clouds still hang low over the steep tops of the mountains, creating a primeval appearance

There's a light at the end of the trail as sun breaks out over the Franz Josef Glacier

The park staff must have seen their share of visitor accidents as we pass many warning signs, especially as we near the end of the trail. As a follow-up note, danger is very real around glaciers.  Just the next day, a flight-seeing helicopter got caught in dense fog and crashed on the nearby Fox Glacier killing all those on board.

Warning signs

Trail ends below the glacier with a roped off area and

a ranger cut out sign giving a halt sign with his hand

I give the fake ranger a high five

Peter gets a good shot of blue ice on Franz Josef

and selfies with his sister Jill

We head back down the trail with Peter & Jill leading

and Mark & I on sweep

We pass other hikers taking a break

So we say good-bye to Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand