WEST COAST: GLACIERS

The Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are the two iconic attractions on the West Coast. Both involve a long walk out to the glacier in a rugged valley carved out by the glacier over thousands of years.

We arrived on an overcast autumn afternoon - not the greatest for taking pictures, but at least it wasn't raining.

I had visited this glacier just over 40 years ago, and I was intrigued to see a sign near the start of our walk that advised us that this was where the face of the glacier was at about that time. It now take 45 minutes to walk there over that valley that had previouly been covered with ice.

We headed off along the track, and watched the rain clouds buid up as we approached our destination. It was raining by the time we got there, we had passed passed a number of other groups who had given up and headed back to the carpark. Let's say, the rain added something to the experience - but we'd have preferred a nice sunny day...

The area in front of the glacier is fenced off as it is too dangerous now to go any closer than around 500 metres. But even so, it was well worth the walk.

The start of the glacial valley where the glacier had come to around 40 years ago

The Franz Josef Glacier - as close as we could get