Jan 12, 2026 Franz Josef Glacier
We are staying at a B&B in Ōkārito on the shore of the Tasman Sea. On a clear day several peaks of the Southern Alps can be seen out the back from the bedroom window, over the long thick leaves and flower spikes of the flax plants. Today we decided to drive up to the Glacier car park in
It is Kismet! We HAVE to do these trails!
In about 20 minutes we reached the first swingbridge, strictly only 5 persons on the bridge at a time, or you will fall & die!!!! Looking down at the roiling glacier water, the Waiho river, thick with silt from the glacier, you pay attention to the rule! The second swing bridge was restricted to only one person at a time, but was shorter and less swingy! The third swingbridge was another story entirely!
This longer bridge had a limit of 5 people, and was very swingy and bouncy, with the ends an uphill climb!
Only the first bridge crossed the river, the other two crossed side valleys with the river to the side, with views of several waterfalls on the opposite valley cliffs.
Returning from our timed hike (we didn’t have time to get to the Roberts Point viewpoint) We found this beautiful reflection of the mountains in this ‘kettle pond’ formed from a block of ice from the retreating glacier around 1800. Back in 1894 a young 9 year old boy camped by the pond with his family. The pond retained his name as Peters Pool.
We returned to the car park and discovered another trail that takes you to a viewpoint for the glacier, which has retreated far beyond a day hike from the parking area!
In the distance up the valley is the fast-retreating Franz Josef Glacier, named after the then Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph in 1866. The misspelling of Joseph to Josef came about in the 1900’s, read about it HERE.