Franz Joseph Glacier

On our very long route back to Christchurch we stopped off in the Westland National Park - Glacier country! We had already driven through Fox and Franz Joseph towns in January while our parents were here. Chris and his folks spent a day on the Franz Joseph Glacier, while my parents and I took a trip to the Doubtful Sound. So I missed out on the glacier trip, and felt I couldn´t really leave New Zealand without climbing on some sort of glacier.

We decided, as our money was quickly running out, that only I would do the trip, and although he loved it the first time, Chris wasn´t overly keen to spend a day trekking over ice again. I was lucky..it was a perfect day-lovely and sunny with completely blue sky. I was so relieved it wasn't raining as I really didn´t fancy walking up a glacier in the cold and rain! Apparently this region gets about 6-8 metres of rain per year so it really was a miracle the sun was out.

I opted for the full day adventure and got kitted out with boots, big waterproof trousers and jacket, gloves and the very important crampons- I was ready to go! We got the bus to the entrance of the park and then walked for about 5 minutes before the impressive glacier was in view. It was big! 12 kms long to be precise!

We walked another 20 minutes to get to the start of the glacier. I got my crampons on and got on the ice. It was amazing how stable I felt walking on ice..the crampons were great. There was a great stairway built by ice axes for us to get onto the path ..and a few more along the way-very cool! Our guide was great, hacking away at the ice to make us steps and pathways all day.

It was a great day, we spent about 6 hours on the ice, we were sliding through ice caves and squeezing through very tight crevasses! It was pretty hairy at some points- the gaps we were getting through were tiny! It was all so impressive though..amazing to actually be walking on a glacier. I loved how blue the ice was too..the higher up we got the bluer the ice. The scenery all around us was incredible as well- we were surrounded by huge waterfalls and stunning forest. It was such an experience and I´m so happy I got to do it before we left New Zealand!