Franz Josef Glacier

We arrived early evening into the Glacier Region and headed straight into the township of Franz Josef for a briefing before our glacier hike the next morning. After, we went to the foot of the glacier for a short walk and a quick preview before making our way to the campsite to pitch our tent for the night.

We woke to a glorious day and a punctured tyre. After a little while of stressing out about what we should do we managed to get it sorted out and arranged for a lift into town for our tour onto the glacier. We got kitted out with boots, crampons and raincoats and took the bus to the start of the walk. It took an hour to walk through the valley and reach the terminal face. We then put on our crampons and began our ascent of the ice.

It was a fantastic experience to be stood on so much ice and the views were spectacular. The guide explained all about the glacier as well as creating a safe path for us to trek on glacier (this often included cutting out steps in the ice as we went along). The highlight was squeezing through a small crack in the ice where we were able to see ice that was so compacted that it appeared blue.

After our great glacier experience we did our laundry, got the car fixed ($75!) and were on our way!