Franz Josef

Today was chilled out (apart from the glacier walk in torrential rain ... more on that soon)(edit James : chilled out. *snigger* sorry, that was a pun!). We slept in and I woke early to make some arrangements for the upcoming Abel Tasman trek which we will do camping (not using the huts)(edit James: this guy is seriously planned. thanks dru :) ). If the weather is good it will be a good track. Tides play a big factor here and taking into consideration tide times when planning a trek is a new challenge! Nonetheless we came up with something which I hope will make sense :) Unfortunately we will have very limited connection in the next few days because of the camping trip.

Today at 3pm we were off to Franz Josef glacier for a 4hr hike. The walk was great...in heavy rain and involved crossing streams nearly knee deep. We climbed around 300m and passed in between ice walls about 2 storeys high and got some sightings of very interesting ice formation. The guide also gave interesting facts about the glacier...how, for instance, it progresses up to 2m per day and even 10m per day at a point. It also retreated about 4km in a few decades. Some pics below :) 

Tomorrow big drive to Abel Tasman (c. 500km!!). More info in coming days :) Cya!