Hey everyone! Lauren here to tell you about our adventure exploring the Fox Glacier and the Franz Josef Glacier on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island!
Hokitika
We woke up around 8am to pack and get ready for the day. We had a long 3.5 hour drive to Franz Josef ahead of us, and after I read about a small town called Hokitika, which was conveniently half way to our next destination, I knew it would be the perfect place to stop and stretch our legs.
Hokitika is known for its pounamu, also known as greenstone or New Zealand jade. The greenstone is highly valued by the Māori, and objects made from pounamu have an important role in Māori culture. For those of you that know what jade is, it is a beautiful color of green! Green is my absolute favorite color, so I find jade particularly beautiful.
When we arrived in Hokitika, we found a parking lot near the beach and began our walk. I read that one of the best ways to find the pounamu was along the rocky beach. Greenstone only appears green when it is wet, so as we walked along the beach, I would pick up any wet rock that looked a little green and shove it in my pocket.
I encouraged Gerrod to look for green rocks too, and by the end I had pockets AND hands full of rocks. I figured, one of them had to be jade, right? As we headed back to the car, I sorted through my rock collection, and kept the greenest ones. This of course meant that for the entire remainder of our trip, I was lugging around several “possibly” jade rocks. I’m sure it increased the weight of my luggage, and Gerrod made sure to point this out if I approached the baggage weight limit.
After our walk on the beach, we decided to check out some of the jade carvings at the local shops in Hokitika. There were so many amazing pieces of artwork! Since I wasn’t sure that any of my rocks were actually jade, I decided to buy a little 15 NZD jade ring at one of the stores before returning to our car to continue our drive to Franz Josef.
Driving to Franz Josef
The rest of the drive to Franz Josef went smooth, and soon we arrived at our hostel, Chateau Backpackers and Motel. We were a bit too early to check in, but there was plenty of hangout space to relax while we waited for check in.
Hiking to Fox Glacier
After finally checking into our dorm room at the hostel, we dropped off our stuff and headed to Fox Glacier. There are several hikes in the area, but since we were limited on time, we decided to do the Fox Glacier Valley Walk, which only takes around an hour. After parking in the lot, we headed out on the hiking trail to the glacier.
The walk followed the large valley beneath the base of the glacier, and not too far along the trail we could see the Fox Glacier in the distance. The glacier has receded a lot in the last 50 years, and there were several signs along the trail pointing out where the glacier previously had ended. It was crazy, and very sad to see how much smaller it has gotten!
The trail ends at a viewing area a safe distance away from the glacier. Since it is constantly moving, ice and rock can fall from the glacier, so the viewing area changes depending on where the glacier is! The views were incredible, and after taking in the beauty of the glacier, we headed back to our rental car to head to the Franz Josef Glacier!
Hiking to Franz Josef Glacier
The hike to the Franz Josef Glacier was a bit longer than the hike to Fox Glacier, but was an easy hike with incredible views along the way! The hike started as a forest walk, which ended with a beautiful view of the river valley and the Franz Josef Glacier!
The next portion of the hike is monitored by the park department, and apparently changes depending on flooding, landslides, ice collapses, etc. Luckily for us, it was open! We went past a cool waterfall called Trident falls, and after about an hour of walking, we made it to the final viewing area!
I found both glaciers incredibly beautiful, but it was sad to see how much both of them have receded due to climate change in the past years.
Also, since I haven’t mentioned Lord of the Rings in my past few New Zealand posts, the scene in the Return of the King with the lighting of the beacons that run along the White Mountains from Gondor to Rohan was filmed near the Franz Josef Glacier. We looked up to see if we could see anything lit, but it seemed that Gondor was doing alright.
Back to Town and Bed
After enjoying the beautiful views, we headed back to our hostel in Franz Josef. After making ourselves a luxurious pasta dinner and doing some more booking, we headed off to bed in preparation for the following day's adventure.
Until next time!
Lauren (and Gerrod)
