Leaving Christchurch on a grey and rainy day we headed towards the west coast via Arthurs Pass; the intention was to take in the stunning scenery along the way to our final destination for the day at Franz Josef Glacier. The previous day had been beautiful and sunny during our sojourn around Christchurch, however unfortunately this was not to be the case on the first leg of our trip, although the scenery is so stunning that the rain did little to dampen our spirits…

The road through Arthurs Pass offers some incredibly beautiful scenery; we had calculated that the whole trip from Christchurch to Franz Josef Glacier would take approximately 5 hours, however we had not factored in the innumerable camera stops…

After we checked into our accommodation at Franz Josef, we decided to go and have a look at the nearby Fox Glacier, which is also one of the worlds most accessible glaciers. It is a short 23km drive from Franz Josef township, and is surrounded by some stunning rainforest walks; the following images are from that wonderful afternoon immersed in the smells and tranquillity of the rain, the glacier and the forest trail…

 

Once again I did bring my tripod with me on this trip, but cleverly managed to leave it in the car for this walk, which meant wet knees, thighs and backside while lying down taking the long exposure images…