Franz josef, a snippet of fox glacier and lake matheson :)

Having left the hotel mahinapua quite hungover ! We we now on our way to franz josef glacier town! We were most excited about this as it looked so pretty in the pics and also we had never seen a glacier before! When we arrived it was bad weather raining etc and was a little cold! We weren't to bothered as we were here for 5 nights, we settled in in our YHA we had a double ensuite room which was luxury for us! And it was actually very nice, the hostel also had a sauna! Which we enjoyed :) the yha hostels all seemed to have lovely kitchens which everything you needed and plenty of room :) 

The whole time we were in franz josef it rained and was a little chilly which actually suited as as we had so. Uclh research and booking to do for the next legs of our tour in oz and usa that we actually needed the time to relax and do the things we needed and as we had free wifi in the yha's it was the perfect time! We did wonder around the town a few times it was a lovely little town :)

On the third day we decided that we would take the walk to the face of e franz josef glacier it was suppose to be a three hour round trip! It was only mildly raining this day so decided that we would go for it, we could of taken the shuttle to the car park of the glacier which would have cost us $25 and cut out 1 hour and half off our walk but we decided we would save the penny's and walk it :) 

It was a lovely walk and had some beautiful  scenary around us....

....the walk itself was all on flat ground so it was nice :) we saw a lot of wildlife on our walk and also saw a dead cat but this wasn't a house hold pet cat! it was like a mountain cat a wild one! When we got to the car park we had a little rest....

......it was another hour to the glacier front ! We continued our walk and the scenary was even better ! Rainforest around us either side and the glacier in front of us :) it was a relatively clear day so we were lucky :) there were many waterfalls coming from the mountain above us it was really breath taking .........

 

......the walk took us a little longer then stated as we were stopping and taking pics and also going on detours to get a better look at things! By the time we got the glacier itself we were amazed it was beautiful but we were gutted  we couldn't get a closer look! But it just was t safe so we took heaps of pics and looked around the area it was great fun :) 

 

 

 ...we decided to make our way back as it looked like there was storm approaching there were already clouds blocking our view of the snowy mountain tops! The walk back was just as nice :) we saw a native bird called a "kea" ....

.....it was super colourful and a very pleasant bird :) we were lucky to spot it! And we also saw another native bird. It I cannot remember the name of it ! We are told that it is birds that rule the rainforest and not mammals ! 

We were pretty tired after that walk we were out for around 5 hours! But it was well worth it :) we thoroughly enjoyed franz josef and loved the walk :) we feel very lucky to have got so close to a natural wonder like that :) this particular glacier was one of only three in the world that ends in a rainforest! The others are fox glacier just down the road and the other is in Argentina! So we are lucky :) we weren't to sad about not being able to do the helicopter flight and ice climb due to the price! We enjoyed our walk :) the only way you can get on the glacier these days is by helicopter due to the danger of it and the ever moving glacier so that's why the price is so high! We weren't going to pay $300 each for a ten minute flight!

When it was time to leave franz josef we went on our way and our driver very kindly took us to a point where we could see fox glacier :) and that was also beautiful.....

We also stopped at a lake called "lake Matheson" it was famous for its beautiful reflective water :) we went for a short walk to the look out point to get some pics and it really was stunning like everything else in New Zealand :) ......

 

....our next stop is lake wanaka and we couldn't wait :)