Franz Josef and his Receding Glacier

We left Jackson's Retreat to head off to the Franz Josef glacier. The journey was quite long and the weather started to turn pretty yucky. At Kumari Junction we turn left and go south on route 6. It's ironic that when we get to our destination at Franz Josef, we are within spitting distance of Mount Cook (about 20 miles as the crow flies), where we had been just a few days ago. Unfortunately, there is no road between the two. We stay at Rainforest Retreat and our allocated bay is effectively within the rainforest itself. Very secluded. We decide to use the thermal baths nearby and treat ourselves to a massage each. There were 3 baths, each of differing temperatures and all quite relaxing, as was the massage. From there, we pop into the onsite bar and restaurant at the motorhome site, treating ourselves to a pretty good pizza and a local beer, whilst sitting in front of a great open fire. The next morning, it's off to the glacier itself and we had already heard that we might be disappointed on viewing, given it has receded considerably over the years. As so it has. The walk to the glacier is about 45 minutes and along the way, there were signs indicating where the glacier had been at certain year points. The glacier has retreated 1/2 mile in the last 10 years alone. However, despite this, it was an amazing sight, although what will be left to view in 10 years time is anybody's guess.

We now head back north along the same route 6 highway to get to Punakaiki. Along the way, we stop off at Hokitika River that had a great wooden suspension bridge to walk over, to reach a river that had a beautiful ice blue hue to it. As we near our campsite, Punakaiki Beach Camp, the sky darkens, the heaven's open and the wind howls. We park up in the dark, facing the beach, where we can only hear the crashing of the waves against the rocks. Time for some food and a beer, we think. On the corner is a modest cabin, where we enter to the sounds of Creedence Clearwater Revival's album, Cosmo's Factory. It has been a feature of our trip in New Zealand that most of the music we have heard has been from the 70's and 80's, apart from Ed Sheeran! We both have steaks that were cooked really well and a couple of local beers. Then we head back to our motorhome, huddling under our umbrella as the rain pours and wind tries to blow us away. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!