Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

We stayed two nights in Franz Josef, a village with a population of 444, but with over 2000 rooms for accommodating tourists who come here to see the glacier. The town is within the Westland Tai Poutini National Park. The helicopter airport is busy all day taking tourists over & actually landing on the glacier. We couldn’t see spending $300+ each to get out and walk on something we wanted to avoid walking on at home.... We did walk close to the terminal end of the glacier, however, & were struck by how much it has retreated since the first photos were taken in 1867. After hiking, we spent some time at a place called Glacier Hot Pools, which has 3 large outdoor pools. The coolest is heated to 36, the middle to 38, & the hottest to 40 degrees Celsius. That was a nice treat for our sore, hiking muscles. We ate dinner at Alice May Restaurant, which has an interesting back story.Read more