"Franz Josef Glacier" a Franz Josef Glacier Travel Page by kenmerk

I think that the best experience I had in New Zealand was hiking up on the Franz Josef Glacier, which is on the west coast of the South Island...

Looking up at the Glacier from the bottom, it looks nice and interesting and all, but I was actually a little disappointed.. (Not sure what I was expecting...)

But anyway, decided to sign up for a full day hike... The hiking up to and on the Glacier far exceeded expectations...

From the bottom, it just looked like a bunch of small snow mounds up the face, but once you get up into the glacier, you are actually squeezing you way through deep crevices, crossing shaky aluminum ladders over what appeared to be bottomless pits, and hiking among large ice pinnacles where ice boulders are perched above your head...

Although the day left my legs dead tired and my feet bruised and battered, I'd have to say this is the one experience in New Zealand that I am glad that I did not miss...