The drive to Franz josef as per the rest of the South island was picturesque with plenty of stop off points with lookouts over lakes, mountains, and just large open spaces. This was probably the biggest thing for me coming to new Zealand and seeing, the sheer scale of open space and how few people actually live in teh country. I beleive the country has 4 million residents and 2 million of those live in Auckland!!!! Another bit of factual information there, well one has to keep the brain cogs ticking after nearly a year off work!! haha.

After spending a night in a hostel in Franz Josef we rose early to check into the shop for our half day Glacier Walk. Once all kitted up with trousers, jackets, boots etc we were herded onto the bus and ferried out to the start point to the glaciers. We had a 40 minute walk or so to the foot of the glaciers across a riverbed which was mostly dry at the moment although rapids got larger through the centre of it as we came closer to the foot of the glaciers. Once here we affixed the crampons to our boots and began the initial steep climb onto the glaciers. This was the steepest part of the walk and you had rope handrails attached to the glaciers to help woth balance. We spent a couple hours on the glaciers and the views of being on ice whilst being surrounded by open greenland and a river bed below were really surreal. Little overcast to begin with but as day went on and it brightened up the stunning blue that reflected off some of the glaciers and in the crevises looked awesome. Guide was really good as well giving us all the relevant information on how they formed and whats happening each year to the glaciers to make the trip thougroughly enjoyable and informative at the same time. See I am learning stuff as well, its not just a jolly i'm on here!!!!

Once back in town we departed that afternoon and drove to Arthurs Pass. This is a tiny village situated in central South Island between Greymouth and Christchurch. We spent the night in a fantastic little lodge where we were upgraded to a twin room for the same price as the dorm, and the place was so clean and modern it felt like a far more expensive lodge then that which we were paying for.......... After a good long nights sleep we went for a couple walks the following morning which is what Arthurs Pass is renowned for. Unfortunately bad weather this morning so fleece and waterproof were required, did get pretty wet as well but with the type of scenary on offer here in New Zealand the weather just didn't seem to put you off heading out and doing these sorts of things. Lots of mixed tracks and trails for walkers of all experiences, which was good and meant amatuers like us could be accomodated with some easy going trails whilst allowing us to take in the scenary of this National Park. One of the walks we did was called 'Devils Punchbowl' which took you to a fantastic waterfall at the end of it high up into the mountain through a number of steep steps up here. Now this clearly must of been an impressive waterfall as I have seen a good fair few now and yet this one did not fail to impress. After a morning of walks it was time to head back to the lodge, dry off and head our way back up to Picton to allow us to spend the night here prior to getting the ferry acrros back up to the north island again and Wellington.