This morning we hiked to the base of Franz Josef glacier. We started the hike through rainforest which opened into the basin of the glacier valley. It was so odd to have this contrast of landscape adjoining. There are many glaciers in this area but Franz Josef is the most accessible. It was a great walk about 2 hours return. The weather cooperated once again so got a great view of the glacier.
One third of New Zealand is National Parks and another 2000 state and county parks. We are surprised how undeveloped this west coast is. Just purely beautiful country.
We are closer to the south pole than to the equator. As we move north our temps are getting warmer, unlike the US.
There are so many camper vans here that when you get back to the parking lot you better remember where you parked because there will be a dozen vehicles the same as yours.
We then moved on to Greymouth to stay the night. This campground is great because it's right on a pebble rock beach. On this west coast the sunset over the Tasman Sea was spectacular!