The Glaciers were one of the 'must sees' on this trip but yesterday we were all set to leave Franz Josef bitterly disappointed having not experienced the full front of a glacier. The area was having torrential rain and very low cloud and was expected to last until next Tuesday.

Unfortunately time is short in New Zealand and we haven't got time to hang around. We made our way to the Franz Josef Glacier but could only view it from quite a distance as the rain was causing the riverbed to flow rapidly and you had to cross this by stepping stones to get to the glacier. We could have joined a guided walk up the glacier but from the video we saw thought this might be a bit strenuous for us and also the ice tunnels looked very narrow. With my fat bum and Ray's fat belly it could have got embarrassing!!

How things changed today when there was a break in the rainfall and even sunshine (very briefly), This area of the southern alps, glaciers and temperate rainforests (hence the the heavy rainfall) is a world heritage site and was not anything like we were expecting. We made our way to Fox Glacier (12 miles south of Franz Josef) and although less talked about we thought it certainly had the 'WOW' factor. Coming face to face with all that solid blue ice is an unforgettable experience. The glacier descends from the southern alps cutting its way down through the valleys into the rainforests below towards the sea. The walk through the rainforest to access the glacier was pretty mind blowing; it was damp, dark and had hundreds of fast flowing streams and waterfalls everywhere - quite primeval. We did a bit of rock climbing to have a closer look but because of the streams and wet surfaces we knew our limitations and all the warning signs were out about rock and ice falls - better safe than sorry. It was close enough for us and we had an excellent view of all the crevaces and ice caves at the terminal face.

This afternoon we took a walk through more rainforest to Lake Matheson, carved out by the glacier thousands of years ago and is also renowned for its mirror-like reflection of Aoraki/Mount Cook (New Zealand's highest mountain). There was a reflection but perhaps not as good as could have been if the weather had been better. We hope to get closer to Mount Cook later in our journey if time permits

The apres glacier activities are not bad as we have found a couple of very acceptable bars/restaurants with huge log fires. The food is good and we have developed a taste for Pinot Noir wine (NZ of course) and Ray especially likes the local brews, Speights and Monteiths old dark ale - tastes like stout.

Onwards to Queenstown tomorrow where the skiiing season has started. Not that we will be doing any of that as we tried that, not very successfully, once before. Sure we will find something to occupy us.

Jen and Ray