INFLITE - West Coast

FRANZ JOSEF & FOX GLACIER EXPERIENCES
Nestled between New Zealand’s highest mountains, the Tasman Sea, stunning temperate rainforest, glowing glaciers, mirror lakes and braided river beds, Franz Josef Glacier has been described as one of the most beautiful places on earth.

For this reason and many others, the region was included in the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area.

Skydive Franz offers skydiving from 13,000 feet, 16,500 feet and 20,000 feet. We are fully certified New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority 'Adventure Aviation' operators. And we have a 100% safety record.

Our Tandem Masters are world class, fun, vibrant and pride themselves on their professionalism. Our aircraft is maintained to an incredibly high standard, and our pilots are commercially rated mountain pilots who know the local weather conditions inside-out.

FRANZ JOSEF VILLAGE
Today Franz Josef Glacier Village’s natural credentials are impeccable and there is a huge variety of natural attractions just a short distance from the Franz Josef Glacier Village. Lakes, rainforests, surging waterfalls and the glacial rivers of ice mean that the area is an adventure and leisure destination that is ready to be explored, the perfect location for your New Zealand skydive.

FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER
The Franz Josef Glacier (Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere) offers visitors a rare opportunity to experience a dynamic glacier, in a temperate environment, within easy driving and walking distance from the main highway.

In the last ice age the glacier extended in a huge ice-sheet to beyond the present coastline. Today echoes of its frozen past are still apparent in the landscape. The terminal face of the glacier is less than 300 metres above sea level.

Today this glacial fed river has aggregated as bulldozed debris from the glacier have been washed downstream by rainfall (6 metres a year!) As you drive along the West Coast Road you will see rivers smokey blue water. This glacial silt is evidence of a glacier high in the hills.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER: KA ROIMATA O HINE HUKATERE
The Maori name for the glacier is Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere (‘The tears of Hinehukatere‘). The legend of the Makawhio people (a sub tribe of the Nga Tahu) says that Hinehukatere was an extremely fit and fearless young woman who loved climbing in the mountains. She persuaded her lover, Wawe to climb with her. Wawe was less experienced but enjoyed accompanying his beloved.

Disaster struck when an avalanche swept Wawe from the peaks to his death. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many, many tears flowed down the mountain. The gods froze these tears in a river of ice and the glacier formed as a reminder of her grief.

Leonard Harper crossed “Harpers Pass” in 1852 and named the Franz Josef glacier ‘Victoria’ and the Fox Glacier ‘Albert’ after the Monarchs’ that were ruling the British Empire at the time. Sadly the ni