Franz Joseph and other assorted Glaciers

After quite a lengthly, but pretty drive (for which I was asleep for the last bit), we made it to the glaciers. These are mostly famous for people dying at them, so we were sure to heed the warning signs and stay on the trails. But not so for many of the other tourists. Loads of people ignored the numerous signs warning of impending death and walked to get a closer look at the ice.

It certainly wasn't as cold as we expected, and the thermals, gloves and hat seemed a little overkill. I always thought ice =cold. In town was some signs for more thermal pools, so given we were tired and had not much else to do we thought we would check them out. They were awesome - a little smaller than Hanmer Springs, but beautiful at night set amongst a forrest of ferns. And there were hardly any people, we wallowed and floated our way through 36, 38 and 40 degree baths. Not having a bath for about 5 years made this heaven. And we retired with fantastically soft skin and very well relaxed.