As we continue driving south along the west coast, the weather worsens (rain and wind), but is to be expected, as this area has over 6 meters of rainfall per annum - one of the highest in the world.

Having reached our next destination, Franz Josef (the name of the town as well as the glacier), we stay at Te Waunai (we never learned how to pronounce this). It's grandly billed as an eco lodge, as the construction of it was supposed to be on environmentally sound principles. The reality is a very modern place with lots of dark wood, comfortable rooms but bad lighting, windows in the public areas oddly placed along the walls, and pretty decent food (providing dinner and breakfast). Almost any place would be a bit of a letdown after Otahuna, I fear. Anyway, while it wasn't bad, there seemed to be no heart to this place. Not one we'd recommend, though it may be the best that FJ has to offer.

The main event here is to be a helicopter ride which lands on the glacier, and then hiking on the glacier itself. As the rain never lets up and visibility is almost nil, the trip is, predictably, cancelled. Instead, we decide to hike to the foot of the glacier, which takes about half an hour, mainly along one of the aforementioned wide, mostly dry, rocky riverbeds which is typical of this part of the country. We are allowed to walk to within about 300 feet of the glacier's lowest point, where it drops into the river. This is one of the few glaciers that is not retreating, due to its 100 feet of snowfall (not a typo!) each winter. The ice is a brilliant turquoise blue in places, shading to brilliant white. It is a beautiful sight, even though we were disappointed not to be viewing it from hundreds of feet up in the air.