Leaving Queenstown behind, our next stop on the trip was Franz Josef.  This was probably one of my favourite days of the trip so far. 

About Franz Josef Glacier

In local Māori legends, it is known as Kā Roimata ō Hine Hukatere (the frozen tears of Hine Hukatere). It is one of the steepest glaciers in New Zealand.  It is a faster-moving glacier than average, moving at over 50cm per day.

Quad Biking

In the morning we went quad biking – so much fun!  A little scary at first doing some of the hills but once you got going and got more confident it was so enjoyable.  We started off on a dry riverbed then headed into the rainforest.  Following narrow windy paths amongst the tree’s, driving through puddles with mud splashing in your face.  I cannot express how much I loved and enjoyed this.  There were two guides, one for those who were more confident and wanted to go faster and one for those who were a little bit slower.  This meant you didn’t feel you needed to keep up with everyone and all needs were catered for.  They gave you waterproofs and wellies to protect your clothes and of course the all-important helmet.

Hiking on Franz Josef Glacier

Finishing the quad bikes we headed straight for the heli-hike.  Our trip was delayed by around 30 minutes due to weather conditions but luckily it did go ahead.  We started off getting kitted up in all our wet weather gear, boots and clamp on’s.  Then we heading to the helicopter which flew us to Franz Josef Glacier.  After putting our clamp on’s on we began the hike.  It was more leisurely rather than a hike.  We walked through some small ice caves.  Some of the steps going up were challenging but again worth it.  Such an experience to say you have walked and explored a glacier.  It wasn’t actually that cold when we were on there, the sun came out and the weather turned out to be great.  If you get the chance to do a glacier hike, I would definitely go for it.