Visiting New Zealand's Fabulous Glaciers whilst on Holiday in South Island.

Our Holiday Guide to Franz Josef Glacier and a magical helicopter flight up to Mount Cook, flying around various glaciers and a landing on Fox Glacier.

There are also several bits about walks -Tramping- we did whilst staying at Franz Josef as well as stuff about the restaurants and shops available there plus the motels etc..

We stayed at Franz Josef for 3 days at the start of December 2007 - the New Zealand weather continued to be dry although there were low clouds around the glacier.
Franz Josef and it's famous Glacier - as well as close neighbour Fox Glacier - are situated within a fantasticly scenic World Heritage Area on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.
Located in the Southern Alps Franz Josef Glacier is about 12km in length and ends only 19 km from the Tasman Sea. The glacier is quite unique in that it is still growing in size due to frequent and very heavy snowfall during the winter.
Apart from the two famous glaciers in the area there are lots more things to do and see - for instance the coast is not far away and you can have a wander around beautiful cliffs, forest, coastline and beaches - how about Gillespies Lake (photo on the right) which was really gorgeous.

Glacier Helicopter Trip. One of the main issues about taking one of these flights was the really changeable weather locally which can often prevent the choppers taking off. Very low cloud can hug the glaciers and immediate valleys stopping aircraft movement although the general weather just away from the glaciers can be gorgeous. We tried to take a flight on our second day in the morning and were just about to board the aircraft when the weather closed in and that ended the flying for that day. The following day nothing flew at all due to sea fog and low cloud so we pretty well accepted our chance of a flight was gone as we were leaving for Queenstown the next day. However that next morning we found the weather bright and clear so rushed down into the village and got ourselves booked on a 10:15 flight.
The helicopter flight was totally brilliant - the pilot took us out into the Southern Alps to get extremely close views of Mount Cook and various glaciers and then after a while we landed on top of Fox Glacier for a few minutes to stand out on the snow and ice. We then took off and were flown around other parts of the area including a very close look at Franz Josef glacier before landing back - total flying time was around 40 to 45 minutes and for guidance the cost was about 250 UK pounds for us both.

If you do take one of these flights all you can take with you is your camera - as far as warm clothing is concerned this does really depend on the weather. You should have an anorak or fleece available with you but the flight staff will advise if they think they are needed and if not will keep them safe for you - certainly you do need to have some sort of thick soled boots on for the "glacier walk". Booking is necessary as there are only so many flights - what you need to do is reserve your seats for flights on at least the previous day. You do not need to worry as if the weather/visibility is poor they won't fly you and they don't ask for a reservation deposit. There are a variety of flight options - the longest and therefore most expensive is the flight out into the Southern Alps to see the mountains plus a landing on a glacier, shorter trips just take you up to the top of the glaciers and may or may not include an actual landing.

Visiting the Glaciers on foot. A dirt track just after the river bridge outside of Franz Josef village takes you the 5 kms down to a car park at the bottom of Franz Josef Glacier and from there you have a 45 minute walk along paths and then across a wide stony mostly dry river bed to reach the base of this glacier. Note that the dirt track down to the glacier is really dusty unless it's been raining and is quite heavily used by cars and buses so this dust is horrendous - hardly suitable for either walking or cycling. The dirt road down to Fox Glacier is a little shorter but can be equally dusty - again once parked you have a shortish walk this time of around 30 minutes to reach the actual base of the glacier. You can get much closer to Fox Glacier than you can to Franz Josef's. In both cases it can be pretty cold out there and you do need to have a fleece and also it's important to have something decent on your feet - ideally walking boots.

Walks close by or around Franz Josef. There are several walks around but these are "there and back" - we have described below several we did - note there is an excellent Tourist Information office in Franz Josef where you can get leaflets showing various walks. Several paths leave from Franz Josef Glacier car park and there are also some trails from Franz Josef itself.

Franz Josef Village. Tatare Tunnels and Gallery Waiho Walk. The track leaves from the end of Cowan Street - to go to the tunnels you keep straight ahead at a track junction. The tree-lined track climbs gradually and soon follows a river - eventually the track becomes a narrow rocky path which climbs quite steeply up to the tunnel entrance.
You can go inside and explore the tunnel but you are paddling through several inches of very cold water and with quite low headroom - obviously a decent torch is essential. One of the things we noted on this walk was the area really seemed semi-tropical and had high humidity - the various trees and ferns were excellent.

The Gallery Waiho Walk also leaves from the end of Cowan Street but this time take the right hand track at the track junction - the leafy track slowly climbs and then eventually becomes a lovely path going through woodland and ferns.
The path undulates and does cross two small rivers - there is no bridge on either of these so you have to cross by using the rocks - if it has been raining these two rivers can be hazardous of course.
The path comes out at Douglas Bridge where you cross the Waiho River - then you could continue on to Franz Josef Glacier via Peter's Pool or you can go to the glacier access road - both routes are clearly marked. Because of the poor walking conditions on the Glacier access road due to dust the preffered option of making the walk a circular by returning this way to Franz Josef is not adviseable. This means you either get a lift back from the car park by the glacier or you have to return the same way.

Lake Wombat. This walk is quite strenuous and it takes about 45 to 50 minutes to get to the lake and around 35 minutes back - this because the way up is just that - very up. The start is at a small parking area around 1km before reaching the Franz Josef car park.
There is nothing at all complicated about walking this very nice but at times really steep path - just lots of really interesting trees and ferns to look at plus there were all sorts of birds flying about to spot, enjoy and perhaps needless to say fail to manage to photograph since they would not pose for us nicely.

Lake Matheson. This walk takes around 90 minutes and is quite easy walking on a well made path. The Lake is located by taking Cook Flat Road from Fox Glacier towards Gillespies Beach - there is a large parking area and cafe. This is simply a walk around the lake where on a calm clear day you get a reflection of Mount Cook in the lake's waters.

Gillespies Beach Walk. This located around 21kms from Fox Glacier and reached via Cook Flat Road - note around half of the drive down is on a narrow gravel road which has several tight bends and is quite slippery in places. The path leaves from the small parking area by the beach and is signposted - firstly you go through a gorse bordered path to reach some rusty remains of a gold mining area. From there go left to come out onto Gillespies Beach - turn right and walk as far as you can see along the beach - this is quite hard going on pebbles and soft sand. As you reach cliffs you will see Gillespies Lagoon on the right - follow the path around and then via bridges across this lagoon.

The path then climbs steadily through trees - this path is really stoney and you do need something decent on your feet - i.e. walking boots. At a path junction take the left path which climbs up to shortly reach a tunnel - at the end of the short miner's tunnel is a viewing point where you can if lucky spot seals surfing and playing in the waves below.
Return to the path junction and turn right now heading towards Galway Beach - note there is a noticeboard which claims the walk to Galway Beach is a 2 hours return trip but this is silly. We actually walk fairly quickly and it took us quite a while - probably you should expect to take around 3 hours assuming spending 20 minutes on the beach. (20 minutes is quite a while to spend on Galway Beach if the sand flies are around).

This beautiful path undulates through timu forest and is great to walk - small streams and ferns everywhere. You have to take a wooden ladder down to heavy rocks on the beach itself. This is seal territory and we did see several of them - you do have to ensure that the seals are not between yourselves and their place of safety i.e. the sea.
Two things to note - it can be very hot out on the beach and a hat is essential not least because of the severe UV from the Sun - secondly we found the beach had the world's supply of sand flies to remember to have spray repellant handy. You have to return the same way but this is a very nice but quite tiring walk.

Accommodation in Franz Josef. We had already booked our stay at the Glacier Gateway MotorLodge - this is located just a little on the outside of Franz Josef by the river and it takes about a 7 or 8 minute walk to get into the small town. We found the Motel's owners really helpful about what to see and do in the area - also the Motel rooms were clean and comfortable. There is quite a variety of motel and backpacker's accommodation available in the town as well as several areas where camper vans can rest for the night.

Eating Out. There are several restaurants available to use in Franz Josef i.e. you can get proper food with vegetables and so on which made a nice change - as seemed normal in New Zealand's restaurants you get a huge plateful of well cooked delicious food from a pretty good selection on the menu - also lots of wine choice including many Australian wines. Having eaten your main course it may be a mistake to pick out a pudding for afters since these are of massive size but they are very tempting. On average we were spending around 80 New Zealand dollars for the two of us on a main course and decent bottle of wine plus sweet whilst in Franz Josef.

There is a reasonably well stocked supermarket in Franz Josef as well as several other shops selling clothes and such. Of note also there is a garage in the town where you can fill up 24 hours a day (using a card during the night).

Go to the Top

of this Page

For more Topics, Links
or to Email us see our
New Zealand Home Page

If you have any comments
please visit our Foxy's Blog.

Our Other Holiday and Travel Web Sites are about the Greek and Canary Islands, England, Cyprus, Portugal, Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Egypt - Sharm el Sheikh and Luxor. Please see our Home Page for links to these topics.

Local Resources.

Glacier Gateway Motor Lodge - Franz Josef, South Westland, New Zealand 23 serviced units are available, providing guests with clean and affordable holiday accommodation only a 5 minute stroll from Franz Josef village and renowned local restaurants and cafes.
Alpine Adventures Scenic Flights Scenic helicopter flights in top South Island locations of New Zealand, including Southern Alps, Franz Josef Glacier, Fox Glacier, Mount Cook and Kaikoura whale watching. Private charters for hunting, fishing, heli-skiing, hiking and film crews.
Glacier Country Lake Tours - Lake Mapourika, Franz Josef, New Zealand Lake Mapourika eco-cruises and wildlife scenic boat trips in Franz Josef, South Westland for daily lake tours, nature excursions and private cruise charters for bird watching, fishing and viewing Franz Josef Glacier flora + fauna in a World Heritage area.