Ice cubes - Blogabond

One of the problems with NZ being a fairly large, mountainous country with not many people is that public transport doesn't run especially frequently. So even though it's only quite a short distance as the crow flies, it's taken me two days to get from Te Anau to Franz Josef, via Queenstown. The plus side is that the 8-hour coach ride from Queenstown to Franz Josef was a beautiful drive up the west coast past mountains, lakes and rainforests. And the coach driver gives a running commentary, and makes regular stops for photo opportunities. Can't really seeing that happening on the National Express from London to Newcastle - "and if you look to your left you can see a Moto Services, famous for being the site of the first Little Chef in England..."

I'm now in Glacier country, and spent the day out at Franz Josef Glacier. Recent rain meant I couldn't hike on it, but it was pretty impressive just to walk up to the face of it. Apparently it's very unusual to get a Glacier in a temperate, rainforest-heavy landscape, but it makes for a spectacular sight. They've had 3 water surges in the past 10 days, where a build-up of water bursts through the front of the Glacier, so our guide was a bit nervous, but you get about 10 minutes warning between a booming sound and the water coming through, so there's enough time to get to higher ground. Nothing happened anyway.

written by

phileasdogg on December 5, 2008 from Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs

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