Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier

Franz Josef glacier is further north than Fox glacier.  At the moment, it is also about a 45 minute walk from the car park (that’s parking lot to American English speakers) to the viewing area.  This viewing area is about 60 meters away from the face of the glacier.

We arrived at about 11:30am, and took our time getting to the viewing area.  We took some fun video along the way, and just enjoyed the stroll.  (Jonathan was looking for jade pebbles.)

When we got to the viewing of the glacier, it was awesome.  We could see its big blue cave mouth right in front of us.  Some day I’m going to take an ice cave tour of a glacier.

Jonathan was taking some video down by the river, and I decided to sit down and take a rock out of my shoe that had been bothering me for a while.

I accidentally dropped my shoe into a pool of glacier water.  COLD!  Then, when I bent down to pick it up, I dropped my camera in too.  NOOOOO

I fished it out as quickly as I could, and right now, it’s drying out.  I took the batteries and the memory stick out, and I’m letting it dry.

But at the moment, I don’t have a camera.  And we’re coming up on the most beautiful parts of New Zealand (we’ve heard).

So, needless to say, I was a little disappointed on the walk back to the car, and of course, it started drizzling.  Nothing like a little rain when you’re sad.

From there we drove the 16 km south to Fox Glacier.  This glacier is only about 30 minutes away from the car park.  But this rock is a bit less easy.  There are more rocks, and it’s much more of an incline than the one for Franz Josepf.

Also, when you get to the viewing area for Fox Glacier, the glacier is still 100 meters away.  So it is a way off.  Fox glacier is a bit more rugged and jagged looking.  It looks like a piece of it is going to break off at any minute.

But, I think I enjoyed Franz Josef glacier a bit more.

Jonathan and I weren’t even going to take the walk up to Fox Glacier, but decided that we might as well since we didn’t know when we’d be back.

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