We only stayed one night in Hokitika then had a long drive to get to Franz Joseph one of the main glaciers in the South island and also New Zealand. The drives in New Zealand are spectacular the scenery is amazing and I think it would have been even more so had it been winter with all the snow capped mountains around us. We had been told by friends we'd met previously that Fox glacier was the better of the two as there were smaller groups and more time on the glacier so we stayed in Franz for just the night and booked up for Fox the following day.

Even though you are so close to the snow and glacier it was still warm enough to walk about with just a t-shirt and shorts in the main town.Franz is really small just a road with restaurants, shops and accommodation of every standard it's quaint and had a good feel to it.