Franz Josef Campgrounds - Reviews and Rates

We had booked a heli hike on Franz Josef glacier for the afternoon but due to rain it was cancelled so we just ****** about for the day. We drove over to see the glacier and seriously what a dissapointment it was in comparison to Perito Moreno in Argentina but we were told that by people we met in S.America who had seen the two. Ror jogged back ...

What exactly is a glacier? The showerless morning out of the spooky Wanaka campsite was swift and all too soon a memory. The landscape was rapidly changing as we passed into the domain known as the west coast. It was fairly bizarre plunging from the familiar dry alpine regions into a grey temperate rain forest. It was like nothing I had seen, ki...

21 May 2009 Up we get - possibly the first hangover of the season. First stop is across the road in Barrytown where one of the manly women walks us through a bone carving course. Hard to describe her - she had big hands, no nails (bitten to within a shred of the their living existence), wearing a hat (probably concealing a mop of greasy hair), c...

We arrived in Franz Josef just as the tour agencies were closing up... drat!! We would have to wait till tomorrow to sort it out. We went to the local minimart for some provisions and hats. They were also about to close and we got a free sausage roll each which was much needed as we'd missed lunch. They also told us that it would be easy to get ...

After navigating the snowy roads out of Milford Sound, I pointed my van northwards towards Haast, where just outside of I stopped for a short trek along the first beach I had come across on the Island and which showcased the body of water separating Australia from New Zealand, the Tasman Sea. The beach's sand was fine at some points, but mostly ...

Franz Josef is a small town in the shadows of a big glacier. We stopped on the way at a little museum and watched a movie called 'When Bambi was a terrorist', about how NZ has tamed the deer pest problem that they used to have. This turned out to be my most expensive day so far. I spent almost $500 on booking a full day glacier walk, 2 nights ac...

while we were waiting to go up in the air yet again we tried to book in for the new year campsite but of all the ones we tried around queensland they were all booked up, so we had to settle for cromwell,but it seems to be surrounded by vineyards so possibility it could be o.k. in the meantime we had the flight up into the mountains, this was ano...

The next day I went to the Franz Josef Glacier. Here I decided to experience it the best way you can. I signed-up to something called Heli-Hike. I went on a helicopter that took us on a scenic flight up to the peak of the glacier and after 10 minutes landed on the middle of it, straight on the icy glacier. We got off the heli, straped on ice boo...

I called the entry "The Glaciers" but it was difficult to see them (Franz Josef and Fox). It has been pouring rain since my departure of Murchinson early morning (6:30am). It only cleared up slightly at around 2pm, enough for me to catch a glimpse. After that, I drove 2h to Haast, where I slept. I haven't got much time but I wake up every day at...

Photos are from my one day hike in Abel Tasman National Park and my hike on Franz Joseph Glacier.