Alpine Glacier Motel

... my way back along the footpath I marvelled at how the sea is not 25km away, and here amongst a native rainforest there is a glacier! How unique! I also pondered how relatively sad it is that all this lovely forest is only home to birds and some fish in ...

4-22-2007   Franz Joseph Glacier   Jose:  So after waking up in the middle of nowhere (I took a couple pics of nowhere, to show you guys) we decided to head towards Franz Joseph Glacier. It didn't take us long since we had made most of ...

... of our motel room. Tried a different place for breakfast, the local golf club.  Priced reasonably but the West Glacier Café was better - young, friendly faces from across the nation and fresher food. Going to the Sun Road - ...

... with great picnic spots. If you have the time stop and enjoy them. You won't regret it At 7 pm we checked into the Alpine Glacier Motel in town. Nice place and spacious rooms. Too late to do anything this evening. Had dinner at Blue Ice Cafe which had a ...

... , but starting and stopping as different sections of snow shifted and melted in the hot sun. We saw two more glaciers. The Tasman glacier which is the longest in NZ and is pretty ugly at its terminal face, unlike the spectacular Franz Josef. It looks more ...

... Kaktus auf der Route mindestens eine Geschichte zu erzählen wissen. Das ist doch mal Service - wäre für den Glacier Express auch eine Idee!  Sicherlich, die Landschaft ist karg, nicht wirklich einladend, und offengestanden nach sechs Stunden ...

... call 'Mayonaise' we know to be 'Salad Cream' - no excuse for it really! Thursday 15th July - Greymouth - Franz Joseph Glacier (180Ks) Hit the road with overnight rain still lingering and despite our hopes that it might clear it ended up just getting ...

... een stevige klim van 15 minuten sta ik boven met een prachtig uitzicht op melkwit Tasman meer dat gevoed wordt door de Tasman Glacier en deze laatste heeft nog een groot aantal gletsjer blokken achtergelaten in dit meer, mooi maar winderig en soms dan ook ...

... foods from around the world" list.  OK, not yummy for our livers but surely yummy for our taste buds!   While glacier country has several major glaciers to explore, two of them are standing out: the Franz Josef Glacier is the shorter but the ...

... day hike (or 'tramp' as it is called here) in the country - the 6 hour, 17km Tongariro Crossing. The route passes through alpine scrub between two semi-active volcanoes and up to craters and the bright green 'emerald lakes' (see pics). The landscape is ...

We got up early in the morning all excited for our Glacier Trek. We booked this with the folks at Franz Josef Glacier Walks for $123 each and they are probably the oldest and most popular guys in the business. We reported at their office on the main road ...

... about hoping that the weather will clear and the helicopters fly. Things do not look good so I watch the IMAX film of the glacier. It’s not bad but has too many arty effects. Wander up to Fergs Kayaks to see what they have on offer and consider the ...

... - which turned into dodging rain and hail showers.  While awaiting for one such hail shower to end our motel owner came out of a cafe to tell us the Glacier walk company had called to say there had been a flash flood causing a land slip on the path ...

... have already done that (and its really expensive here) we decided to hike one day and have an easy day two strolling up to the glacier and visiting the beach. This is the point our hiking ego’s got the better of us!! After a couple of kms into the ...

... room has a high ceiling plus a terrace overlooking the snow-capped mountains. After a brief rest, we ran immediately to the Franz Josef Glacier. It was a walk of around an hour and a half and you'll see the glacier from 150m distance. The walk was at the ...

... us off at our motel - it wasnt raining too hard at the time so we were able to get inside without getting too wet. Our motel room was lovely.  A big lounge / bed / kitchen area and another spa bath!  Looking out the window - even as it got ...

... weather; brilliant sunshine after the previous few days of standard west coast rain. We got right up to the mid way point of the glacier, saw some great formations and even went through a few ice holes before lunch, starving by this time Tom was less than ...

... again so when we got back on the bus we fell asleep until we arrived at our destination. We were planning on doing the Glacier hike, but to our dissapointment when we went into the office the video made the ice look brown and sludgy (very unappealing,) ...

... it looks like it’ll be fingers crossed for tomorrow!  Franz is a pretty sleepy place and only survives because of the glacier tourism really, but it’s nice to be away from the bustle of Pinewood lodge and Queenstown for a bit and let me ...

... ride over the two Glaciers (Fox and Franz Josef and Mount Cook and Mount Tasmain).  Unbelievable experience, especially landing on the Glacier which was quite breathtaking, although a bit wet on the feet!!!!!  We were on a high for the rest of ...