Holding Pattern at Franz Josef

It's a great drive out to Glacier country, but overnight and the next there's greater than usual rainfall causing power outages and road closures in the nearby town that supports the Fox Glacier. I decide that this is not to be passed up and bunker down at Franz Josef (about 4km from the actual glacier terminal), a town with only two streets with only accomodation and pubs in it. I check in at Chateau Franz which is just the right place with all the right facilities for a wet and cold town like this one. Spa and a wood fired heated room for drying clothes turns out to be great value for $20/night.

There's not a whole lot else to do around this town if the weather isn't optimal for glacier climbing, so despite the rain, I walk across the bridge over to the road leading up to the glacier and Charlie (from YHA Nelson) and Tyler spot me walking along the road that's having repairs due to the flooding and we venture off to hike up to the glacier terminal. No difficult task, although the authorities probably thought it was, as it was sign posted off as closed to the public. It didn't look like there was any real great reason for not venturing on, so onward we go. It turns out there's nothing real dangerous here except that you have to wade through several streams to get up there. Getting a bit closer, it becomes obvious how high the river coming out of the glacier was overnight with the iceblocks that would've been several tonne having floated to this point here.

As we get close up, a chunk of ice breaks off the front of the glacier with a boom and starts floating on down the river, leaving little doubt how the last one got there.
To give you some idea of scale, the chopper pilot says he could fit the chopper in the opening of the glacier (where the river is running out from) and if you click on the picture of the glacier next to the one I'm standing beside (the one where I'm looking like a drowned rat) you can get a further reference of scale.