This was a long drive and it was take us to Lake Hawea, Haast Pass and Fox Glacier. There were quite a few photo ops. The flora once you hit the west coast changes to fern based. You see podocarp forests along the way, which have been bent into the shape of the wind flow, quite dramatic. We get to the Franz josef around 9 pm. There are just 3 glaciers in the world that are within a 5km distance from the sea and all 3 of them are in the southern hemisphere and Franz josef and nearby Fox glacier are in NZ. This river of ice within a span of 12 km this glacier descends from a height of 2700m to just 300m. How did it get an Austraian name, I believe Captain cook did see and record the glacier from his ship, how ever it was an Austrain name Haast who officially set foot on it, and in memory of his king called it "Franz Josef". We have never seen a glacier before. This is also where I would be sky diving the next day.
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