Glacier Country

Overview

Franz Josef is one of the 2 towns on the west coast of the south island to stay in what is typically called “Glacier Country”.

Flow down to sea level; southern alps

small town, wakling distance

The train ride from Christchurch over Arthur Pass to Greymouth was quite lovely and relaxing — just a nice relaxing 3–4 hours, pretty though not spectacular (since it’s a low part of the Southern Alps) country.
The drive from Greymouth down to Franz Josef was gorgeous — but not easy. Apart from driving on the left (“wrong” for Americans) side of the road, most of NZ’s South Island is 2-lane (one each way) roads, particularly winding on the west coast. And one exciting wrinkle is that there are 1-lane bridges all over the west coast, where you gotta learn the right of way rules (easy once you get it down). It’s all doable, but …. The first hour or two can be a bit bare-knuckly.

The main glaciers have retreated quite a bit over the last 50 to 90 years (I think they think natural fluctuations, not “just” global warming), so they’re pretty far up the valley from the easy-to-get-to viewpoints. There are longish hikes for viewpoints to each, especially for Franz Josef that we did not do (Kevin’s knee was not up to long hikes some of this trip).

The highlight of this part of the south island to us was Lake Matheson — super short (an hour?) hike around the lake, but some of the best “mountain reflected in lake” views we’ve ever seen. The lake has certain characteristics (dark black silty bottom, relatively shallow) that make it an incredible mirror. About 30–40 min drive from Franz Josef, a thousand times recommended.