I was planning doing a heli-hike at Franz Josef, but the weather had other plans and it got cancelled (and refunded.)  Instead, I lounged in a hot tub with a good book and then did some shorter hikes in the area.

These are tree ferns – they’re so cool to look and they get huge, 15-20 feet!

Franz Josef is in a rain forest and they get a couple of meters of rain a year.  This was in the tail end of winter and it’s still super green and lush.

There were plenty of water features: ponds and lakes and waterfalls.  I love water, so it was awesome that every hike lead somewhere like this!

This is also at a lake.  It’s probably my favorite photo from this trip, but it takes a bit to figure out – the deciduous trees are correct; the evergreens are reflections on a very still lake.  It was a gorgeous sunset hike.

There was also the lake that I drove and walked around a little – I was looking for a trail that ran around it but I couldn’t find anything. I didn’t look too hard, though.

And, finally, a view from the trip back to Dunedin – absolutely lovely! Franz Josef was really lovely and I’m planning to go back there as soon as I have the slightest excuse. (I really want to do that heli-hike!)