Franz Joseph Glacier

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During a two-day stopover in the New Zealand South Island town of Franz Joseph Glacier, a look at the glacier from a helicopter seemed a good idea. It was.

A mini bus transported us a few kilometres to a helicopter landing field where a Hughes 369D helicopter awaited us.


With three passengers on board, the pilot started the engine, engaged the rotor blades and lifted off vertically. We were soon flying above, or rather through the valley carved out by the Franz Joseph glacier.

We flew past snow-covered mountains until came to the start of the glacier, or rather the end of it.

We followed it getting fabulous views of the glacier.

I had a front-seat view from our helicopter when I noticed that the pilot was descending towards a large snow-covered elevated rock. ”He’s not going to land there”, I said to myself. He did.

Disembarking from our sky chariot we spent a delightful ten minutes walking on fresh snow and looking down on the glacier.

I took lots of photos and the pilot took a photo of myself and my wife in front of the helicopter that had brought us there.

Before departure I noticed the pilot was fiddling with something under the rear seat of the helicopter. Upon arriving back at the helipad we were presented the result of his fiddling, a copy of the photo he took of us.

There are many companies offering glacier flights from Franz Joseph and nearby Fox Glacier. They start as a 25-minute experience with a snow landing at $308 per person.

Franz Joseph Glacier is 12 kilometres in length The glacier was named after Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria by the German geologist Julius von Haast in 1865.

It’s an experience you will never forget, especially the snow landing.

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#travel
#places_of_interest
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