Franz Josef & Hokitika, South Island

An early, light breakfast then walk up to Helicopter line tours for 8.30 am - weigh in and safety talk, then walk over the road to the helicopter - which our 'strap in' guide said was the most dangerous part of the journey! Straps on, headphones on and away we go! Up into the air, then the helicopter's nose tipped forward and it rose gently towards the 2 glaciers - amazing views of Mount Cook (Aoraki) and Mount Tasman and the Southern Alps. Due to rain in the area during the week there had been fresh snow fall. Our pilot, Clark explained how glaciers worked, and pointed out various features of interest throughout the flight as well as making us feel at ease. We went up Fox glacier and landed at the top, on the neves, taking first steps onto virgin snow - our pilot Clark took photos for us on our cameras as well as an official one. Surprisingly, it was really warm in the bright sunshine! He answered questions while we had around 5 - 10 minutes on the glacier. We then climbed back in the helicopter and prepared for take off. We went up again and crossed the mountains, people spotting in the snow below and Clark pointing out various landmarks adding extra information as we went down over Franz Joseph Glacier. Wow, Amazing, highlight of visit - though one of many!
We collected the car and drove down through farmland, forests and prospecting country, stopping to get the last photos of the mountain at Lake Mapourika and seeing a rare white heron as we crossed Macdonald's Creek. We arrived at Hokitika feeling hungry, as we had found nowhere really to top up our breakfast at coffee time and headed for a local cafe Stellas for brunch - BLT and chips. We took a look around the town, visited the national kiwi centre and watched giant eels and Kiwis being fed; bought some Pounamu (Green stone) souvenirs and walked back to our seafront hotel along the beach. We then made sure that all the packing was done so that we only needed to open the small case at our last stop over, as the car goes back tomorrow - Bye bye Ken (KF start of number plate).
Our evening meal was again at the hotel and our waiter, Steve was a local lad and was able to give us some tips for the next day as to where to go for lunch and what to see on the way into Greymouth. A last walk and sit along the beachfront before a coffee on our balcony and watching the sun go down with the sound of the sea gently rolling onto the beach.Read more