New Zealand Part 3 - Franz Josef

We left Rotorua, drove back to Auckland (after some shenanigans) and flew down to Christchurch were we stopped overnight before boarding the Trans-alpine Train up to Arthur's Pass. The scenery between Christchurch and Arthur's Pass was just breath taking, and as we were to find out, so is the whole of the South Island.

From the train there was hardly any wildlife to see, so I will start this post with the scenery:
The first part of the journey was through the Canterbury Plains, with the Alps getting closer and closer,

 until we started to climb into the mountains and travel through alpine valleys,

 I took loads of photos so it's difficult to choose what to include in this post

 

We did see some Harriers and Kestrel from the train but photographing them was impossible!

Franz Josef was just brilliant, we could have stayed much longer, we really loved it!
The Franz Josef Glacier viewed from the Rain Forest!

 The Glacier from the Helicopter as we approached,

 with lots to see on the way up.

 Walking up is treacherous, there are so many crevasses.

 So the best way.........

 We flew over from the Franz Josef Glacier to the Fox Glacier, but we didn't see any mints!

 Sorry about that (it was a joke our daughter made when we told her we had flown over Fox Glacier!) it hadn't crossed our minds! (This may be a UK only joke)

What about birds, well no photographs but we did see Tui, NZ Bellbird, Tomtit, NZ Robin, Blackbird, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Pacific Black Duck, and our first Kea sitting on a roof opposite the restaurant where we were having dinner (Posh eh!) Sadly no camera.

The one thing in New Zealand that is weird is the abundance of UK birds, throughout our stay in New Zealand we were to see; Blackbird, Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Starling, Greylag Goose, Goldfinch, Mallard, Skylark, Dunnock, Mealy Redpoll and House Sparrow.

Allegedly these birds and others were brought in by the early settlers to make it feel (and sound!) more like home.