Beautiful Franz Josef Glacier...

Today was a lovely fine day. It has finally stopped raining after about two weeks of rain with a few fine hours here and there. It was wonderful to be out and about not bundled up in my leggings and raincoat. I took the opportunity to walk to the Franz Joseph Glacier while the day was clear to see the top of it and the floods from all the rain have receded and the track is open...

This notice is at the beginning of the track and the photo below is right beside it. The walk is about 4km return which means the glacier has retreated 2km since 1867...

The first part is a very well formed track... And not far before the first glimpse of the glacier...

The stony riverbed of the Waiho River which is fed from the melting glacier and all the waterfalls and the rain of course!  This notice made me laugh... Who would want to go swimming here?

Amazing waterfalls gushing down the Rocky Mountain sides...

Enormous piles of rocks and stones left behind by the retreating glacier...

There is so little of the glacier left to see from the view point at the end of the track. Where I am standing is 300m high. The glacier goes another 9km and rises to 2800m. You could only see 

this from a helicopter. 

The blue ice in the middle in the front is an ice cave...

Here it is close up... With binoculars I could see the foam and spray inside the cave from the river that is rushing down the crevasse.. It's all very stunning and geographically amazing...