Franz Josef Glacier (NZL)

06.11.2019 - 09.11.2019

The Franz Josef Glacier was named after an Austrian emperor and is approximately 11 km long.

The trip to Franz Josef Glacier Village had a funny situation. The West Coast is sparsely populated and on the way from Hokitika to Franz Josef Glacier Village is the smallest village in New Zealand (with only two inhabitants). The bus driver also acts as a (post)man here. He brings the newspaper to the smallest village. But stopping is overrated, instead the bus driver honks and throws the newspaper (rolled up and packed in a bag) out of the window while driving :D

The Franz Josef Glacier is easily accessible, so I made my way there.

The Glacier Walkway starts about 5 km outside the village. If you have a car, you can drive there, there is also a shuttle company. Or you can walk - which is what I did. Of course, I studied the weather forecast beforehand and chose a period in which it should not rain or rain little.

The walkway itself can be walked within 1h 30 min (round trip), but a part of the path was closed (due to the rain showers of the last days). But I still had a good view of the glacier :)

The Glacier Walkway is popular, many of the other hiking trails there are almost for yourself.

For example, at Peters Pool, a small pond where the mountains are reflected, I could take photos in peace. And also a suspension bridge that crosses the river, I had (after a short wait) for myself.

At Franz Josef Glacier, I was very lucky with the weather during my excursion - it was much better than predicted and I packed my rain jacket for nothing.

At Fox Glacier, luck left me. You can read about the bad luck I had there in my next blog.