Franz Josef Glacier

One of the things I love about New Zealand is that, for a country that's about the size of Colorado, it has pretty much every landscape you can imagine. This means that you can be driving along the coast, weaving your way along cliffs through forested jungles, hiking through valleys up to glaciers, and strolling along on the beach all in one day. Which is exactly what we did on this particular day.

After seeing the pancake rocks in Punakaiki, Andy and I followed the coast until we entered Glacier country. New Zealand has many glaciers, but the two most well known are: Franz Josef and Fox. Since we only had time to really explore one of them, we went with Franz Josef.

Our first glimpse of Franz Josef from the nearby township

Some of the common activities among tourists include helicopter rides and guided hikes ON the glacier. Since Andy and I didn't feel the urge to fork out hundreds of dollars for these experiences (you know us), we decided to go on a 20-minute return self-guided walk to a nice viewpoint. But as we started our walk, it branched into two separate paths and EVERYONE was going down the other path, including elderly people. This made us feel like total wimps, so we changed course and went on the 1 ½ hour hike.

As with most spontaneous decisions, we are so glad we did this.

The hike took us through a valley and got us pretty close to the glacier. But it wasn't just the glacier that there was here to marvel at. Down in the valley, we were surrounded by impressive rock formations, immense hills, and incredible waterfalls, so no matter where you looked, it was 360 degrees of sheer beauty.

At first, I was concerned when we woke up to a cloudy and foggy day, thinking we wouldn't be able to get a good look at the glacier. But in actuality, it really added to the beauty of the place and we were grateful for it in the end, as there was absolutely no shade to be found in the valley.

Enough babble... Enjoy the pics!

About to start our hike into the valley

As close as we could get to the glacier

The view going back the way we came

After our glacier hike, we drove to our next campsite which was literally right on the coast. Gillespie Beach is a free camping area that is now one of my favorites so far (minus the sandflies). It requires a 15-20 minute drive through a forest on a gravel road, but is so worth it in the end.

Ocean as far as the eye can see

View of the South Alps (or the "Misty Mountains" if you're a LOTR fan) from the beach

There's just something incredibly relaxing and peaceful about sitting on the coast looking out on endless ocean without a road behind you or the sound of traffic or airplanes flying overhead.

And it being on the west coast, we got to enjoy this amazing sunset at the end of the day: