Christchurch Travel Forum

Hi,

Are there any snow on the mountains/glaciers at the end of jan early feb? Is thhere any way for a person to go and do a quick visit in a day?

The Glaciers are a quite a drive from Christchurch, not something we recommend trying in a day. The higher southern Alps (Mt Cook and the Glaciers) still have some snow caps in Jan/Feb. We were there in Feb this year and was awesome.

Col & Sue

Yes, if you want to visit THE glaciers from Christchurch you will need two days. And they ARE glaciers because they are made of ice and snow ;-)

If you want to spend a strenuous day you can get to the glaciers around Mt. Cook and be back in Chch in the evening. From Mt. Cook Village you have several options to see glaciers, like the Mueller, the Tasman and Hooker glaciers. A fantastic thing to do is walk to the lake of the terminal face of the Tasman glacier. Especially in summer lots of icebergs are floating on the lake, and a few in the other lakes.

The big difference between the two glaciers of the West Coast (Fox and Franz Josef) and the Mt. Cook glaciers is that you can walk on Fox and Franz without problems whereas tours on the east-facing glaciers are dangerous, and would you take a lot more time.

For your other question about the main attractions of Christchurch please check out my Chch page on VT or the pages of other members. If you have more detailed questions I am happy to help.

Howwould i get there in a day? I am by myself so no horing a car etc....

There are bus tours from Christchurch to Mt. Cook. But as it would cost you about NZ$ 100 it would be cheaper to hire a car (for example with Affordable Cars, $39 in the peak season if you only hire for a day, less if you hire for three or more days) - and you would be more flexible at Mt. Cook.

If you really have to do this in just one day.... the only option is to fly from CH to Hokitika then drive to either Franz (approx 1hr 44) or Fox (another 20min). Early flight gets you to Hoki just after 9am and last flight out is at 5.30pm - approx 8 hrs incl driving to see the snow & ice. Best bet is Fox - though further away it's a better walking option for the Glacier and has great views back to Mt Cook & Mt Tasman esp around Lake Matheson.

If you book ahead you may get your flights cheaper. Remember it's the busiest part of the season though so good luck.