Franz Josef
- Trevor Clark
- Mar 11, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 13, 2024
Day one with Miss Maui was the trip from Christchurch to Franz Josef, so east to west coast across South Island. It's about 398kms and 5 hours driving. The first part is flat open rural land with long straight, almost empty roads. As the day progresses you reach the mountain ranges of the west and the scenery gets more spectacular.
We had a wonderful breakfast on the road then wound our way up to the peak near Arthur's Pass. A few days before departing England we had seen a program on great rail journeys in New Zealand. Today we have been driving parallel and crisscrossing the very same railway line as featured in the programme. Our prospective was not quite as impressive as the programme's drone footage but it was a very close second.
We arrived in Franz Josef at about 3pm and found the Rainforest Retreat where we were booked for two nights. FJ is a mix of hotels, motels, hostels, helicopter tour companies and eating places. The other surrounds are a combination of rain forest and spectacularly steep mountain sides. After a walk around town and a fantastic meal (lamb shank, pumpkin mash and vegetables and grilled salmon with pea risotto, if anyone is interested), in a packed little restaurant 2 minutes from our camp, we settled down for the night.
Sue went to bed yesterday exhausted, but still only managed 3 hours sleep. I did better, but not much. Tonight, our second night, we are both wide awake at 2.00am drinking tea and eating biscuits. If we carry on like this we are going to end up looking like a pair of pandas with black eyes and white faces. It is however a good time to while-away the night writing a blog!
This morning we are shrouded in wet low clouds. Our helicopter flight has been postponed until tomorrow, but may have to be cancelled if things don't improve. We did take a walk up to the glacier viewing points outside town, which confirmed the glacier can't be seen. Walking through the rain forest was however wonderful. The sights and sounds are just delightful. Hopefully, we will get our flight tomorrow!
We send you this update, but will add to it if the helicopter trip happens tomorrow.
Haeremai, (Mauri for "Welcome")
Sue & Trev xx
It's called a rain forest for a reason. Looks great, despite the weather.
Sorry to hear the weather isn’t on your side. Loving the pictures. Caroline xx