Franz Josef

Despite feeling a little rough from our night before, the drive to Franz Josef was perfect. The weather was gorgeous and it was only a short drive to get there. We caught up on the embarrassing antics of what had happened the night before, and stopped off for a few well needed coffees.

Along the way we also stopped at one of the first mirror lakes we would see on our trip, and it had a little pontoon for us to go out and look from, and Mangee made us play the 'how many people on one bus can you get on the pontoon' game. The answer was the whole bus!

When we got to Franz Josef, Mangee took us on a tour of the town that took all of 5 minutes as it was so tiny! Apart from the local convenience store and a Kiwi sanctuary, there wasn't much else there apart from hostels for tourists.

The Hostel we stayed in was really lovely, and the owners and their fat cat made us all feel very welcome. They told us to make ourselves at home, and to be sure to have a dip in the hot tub they had!

We ended up sharing a room with Mark of course, and also Iqra, Amy and Archie. A winning combination for some late night giggles. As the drive to Franz Josef had been so short, we still had a lot of the day to play with. We decided to go on a group walk up in the mountains, as the weather was nice and it seemed silly to waste the day inside.

We found a little footpath that took us up on an hours walk through the mossy trees and past a river.

The walk was then supposed to take you to a long natural tunnel through some rocks, but as the weather had been so bad the water level inside the tunnel was up to our ankles, so we had to unfortunately turn back. We did all have a little explore though and it was a pretty magical looking tunnel!

That evening we sat in the lovely bar that the hostel had, with wood burning fires and comfy sofas. We were rounded up by Mangee and told that our costumes from the previous nights party were actually being judged and there were prizes to be won! Whoever the winner was would win a canyon swing in Queenstown! CHOICE! We were sure that Dan would win, as he was still scraping of blue from his skin, however the owners of the pub handed in their votes and to our surprise absolutely loved our crayola costumes. WE WON!!! (we had acquired a weird streak of luck) perhaps we should have tried the NZ lotto. The swing was for 2 people though and as there was 6 of us we weren't sure on how to split it. There was a younger girl on our bus who wanted to do the swing so we offered to sell it to her at a cheaper price, and then we could all split the money and avoid living off super noodles for longer.

That evening we also caught up with our friends from the bus in front of us. They explained how they had spent the day doing the Franz Josef glacier tour, and how great it had been! They managed to sway a few of our friends, including Mark in to doing the trip, but unfortunately we just couldn't afford to do it at $300 each and a trip to Australia to think about ahead of us. It was nice to see them all again, but they were leaving the following day so we had to say goodbye again.

The next day, everyone was buzzing for their Glacier trip, complete with an amazing helicopter view of the glacier! And we were buzzing for them!

Us, along with Izzy and Wise John however spoke to Mangee, who although it was his day off, would happily accompany us on a 5 hour trek to Robert's Point, to get a view of the glacier. He said it was a walk he loved and one he did every time he stopped at Franz Josef.  Once again, it was a beautiful day, so it was looking promising to see the dazzling white glacier.

We started our walk to the glacier base, which took about 45 minutes along the road side, but still with an amazing view of the river and mountainous landscape.

When we reached the base, we saw the first proper glimpse of the glacier valley, and it was reflected in a small pond giving us the stunning picture that lives at the top of this blog! There was also an old image of the glacier from many years ago which showed how the glacier used to actually reach up to where we were standing and indeed cover that whole section of water in front of us. Over the years it had retreated to right around the corner of the valley where it still exists and is still slowly melting. This was due to a few factors, but primarily climate change.

Mangee eagerly, along with Izzy and a couple of other girls on our bus got a bit of a stomp on, leaving us and wise John to take the walk at a more appreciative pace, taking in the breathtaking scenery. The tone of the hike was set when shortly into it we literally had to scramble over some large rocks to cross a cascading river. This was pretty fun but important to avoid getting drenched at the first hurdle and having to endure a soggy journey.

After that, it was a fairly tough hike, mostly up hill but also with slippery mossy covered rocks. 

We scrambled and rambled our way along and there were also quirky little touches to the walk, such as little carved steps along cliff faces, and wire bridges that let you cross the freezing waters below.

It was a tough walk so we were hot, but it was still very cold weather. There were also many reminders to concentrate and stay safe along the hike and some slightly shocking signs explaining how a few people had met their demise in recent years along the track from not sticking to the trail and not commencing fully prepared with appropriate hiking gear, clothing and supplies. We were all kitted out from the Inca trail a month prior so felt quietly confident as well as wise John who had already done a lot of hiking on his world trip including Mt Everest! Plus... He's just bloody wise. We agreed between the three of us to strictly stick to the trail and avoid, where possible, any unnecessary river crossings.

We took a few water breaks and stopped off at one point for a sandwich snack....

 Eventually after a long afternoon hike, we got to Robert's Point, the end of the walk that gave us the perfect view of Franz Josef. The walk was actually a bit more challenging than expected but nice to get some fresh mountain air in our lungs and the view of the glacier was definitely worth it at the end. There was a raised wooden platform with a couple of benches to sit on which gave us the below view.

We chilled here for about 40 minutes to 1 hour, having a chat and of course taking lots of pictures. We then decided that it was probably time to be heading back as it was treacherous enough in daylight uphill so retracing our steps downhill in the dark wasn't something any of us fancied. With tired muscles its safe to say all three of us had a slip or two on the mossy rocks but luckily nothing serious and just enough to give us a giggle and slight morale boost. We made the journey and luckily got the worst parts over and done with before sun set. We still had about an  hour to go when the sun was going down but by that time we were back on asphalt and had to simply follow the river back to our abode. 

On our way back, Tom noticed a tiny bird in the grass verge with a damaged wing and who was hopping around. Tom managed to scoop him up with his hands and put him in his wooly hat to keep him warm. We panicked slightly as there was nothing in Franz Josef, but we wanted to save him! The kiwi sanctuary wasn't open that late plus we didn't think they would want to take in an injured bird that wasn't a kiwi. We started walking home with it nestled in the hat whilst we debated what to do with it. Wise John from the outset had said leave it to nature to decide but Tom was seriously contemplating the logistics of taking him on the kiwi bus with us and nursing him back to health.

After 20 minutes walking, and weighing up practicalities we decided it may fare a better chance back in the wild after all and leave it to fate. We made it a safe nest out of twigs and foliage hidden in some grass, hoping to give him the best chance in life. With an emotional goodbye Tom reluctantly and carefully transferred him into the nest. Half way through our last goodbyes the bird simply jumped up into the air and flew perfectly in to the nearest tree... We are still absolutely bemused as to why he let us catch him in the first place but he could win a little bird Oscar. To say the least it caused much laughter and confusion between the three of us and it appears Wise John proved his title once again.

When we got back, we met up with the others to laugh about our failed bird rescue attempt and to hear all about their helicopter ride and tour of the actual glacier, and it sounded like they had a blast!

We were sad we couldn't have joined them, however there are plenty of lovely free walks at Franz Josef, so if you were to spend a few days there and were on a budget, you wouldn't run out of things to do!

We wound down for the evening and had the inevitable funny bedtime with Archie doing yoga and meditation, feeling relaxed just in time to get up bright and early for our next stop... LAKE WANAKA!