Franz Josef via Lake Matheson

Thursday 1 - Saturday 3 June

Just a few days left on South Island now, and as we headed north towards Picton and the interisland ferry our next stop was Franz Josef village.

Franz Josef is famous for one thing - the Franz Josef Glacier;

and here we come to another one of Sharon's 'must-do' activities: hiking on a glacier. But I'm jumping ahead.

The route we took to Franz Josef just happened to pass one of New Zealand's most famous landmarks/tourist attractions - Lake Matheson. Chances are, if you've ever seen a picture of a perfectly still lake in which the surrounding mountains or forest are reflected, then you've seen Lake Matheson. The lake is approached via a nondescript woodland walk, occasionally punctuated by viewing platforms; and what views!

Sated by the beauty of the lake we continued to Franz Josef itself, arriving in the early evening and hastened to buy tickets for a glacier 'heli-hike' the following afternoon.

Friday 2 June

The village of Franz Josef, named, like the glacier, after Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, is basically a single road lined with tour operators, restaurants and accommodation. All the local ation takes place on, around and above the glacier itself.

Today was the day of our heli-hike (a helicopter flight to the otherwise inaccessible top of the glacier, followed by a two-hour hike over the ice). We awoke to clear blue skies and sunshine, and the sounds of numerous small planes and helicopters buzzing overhead.

Clutching our tickets, we eagerly made our way to the tour operator... only to be told that because we were the only people booked on the heli-hike it would be uneconomical to fly us up to the glacier. We were peeved, to say the least; we didn't really have time to hang around another day in the hope that we might be able to go on tomorrow's heli-hike. We opted for a refund, then made a quick phone-round of the other operators just in case. No joy. Sharon was upset; we'd come so close.

Sensing that this might be our one-and-only chance ever to hike on top of a glacier, we pulled ourselves together, hastily re-wrote our schedule and marched back to our tour operator. Handing over the cash once more, we were told that tomorrow's heli-hike was virtually guaranteed as other folk had already signed up. What could possibly go wrong?

We filled an unplanned free afternoon with a woodland walk which ended near the base of the glacier. So close, so close...

Saturday 3 June

The day began promisingly, but before very long we noticed a subtle darkening of the clouds gradually transforming to an overall blanket of dark grey. The hitherto constant drone of aircraft in the skies overhead ceased, and we began to worry.

Our tour operator confirmed our worst fears; by lunchtime incoming rain and snow over the mountains made flying impossible and all aircraft were grounded for the day (excepting emergencies).

Well, what now? The tour operator offered a lifeline; despite the weather, we could still take a guided hike on the lower part of the glacier even if we couldn't fly to the higher part. Of course, we couldn't turn this final opportunity down.

And so it was we finally found ourselves and an intrepid few others, rain-soaked and freezing, with crampons on our feet, climbing over solid impacted ice and squeezing through the narrowest ravines on the Franz Josef Glacier, with our guide - ice-pick and rope in hand - carefully carving steps and footholds in the ice for us. And you know what? It was fantastic!