Alex's Knob (1300m)

We woke to clear skies so decided to go on a long walk to a viewpoint for good views of Franz Joseph glacier. The board said 22km but what we hadn't realised was that it was to go up a mountain to the viewpoint! We ended up walking the equivalent of Ben Nevis from sea level. The majority of the 7 and a half hours was spent going either straight up or staight down over the loose rocks, boulders and tree rooots along the steep path cut out of the side of the hill in dense forest. The overall height gain was similar to walking up Ben Nevis. The view was kept a surprise until we reached one of the three lookout points along the way. The whole day we could hear the buzz of helicopters first overhead then below us as they took people to see/walk on the glacier as you can no longer walk up to it from the car park since it has receded so much. Scones were offered again this evening which were even more greatly received but we didn't leave any for the regular nightly visitor. Possums are a pest here and they are trying to eradicate them but they do look cute though.Read more