Icy southern beauty

“New Zealand is the land of all things possible,” Josh Green writes in a travel piece for the San Jose Mercury News. “It’s one of those places where you would like to take a vacation and then forget to return home. The South Island, in particular, offers a road system capable of taking you on a circle-tour that offers charming cities, a gorgeous coastline, glaciers, staggering sounds and some very quiet places. A mere day’s drive away [from Abel Tasman National Park] are the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. As you might see in Alaska, these glaciers almost kiss the coastline. A helicopter gives you the most direct start on the glacier, dropping you off in the middle for guided walks (complete with your own giant axe-wielding guide to keep you safe).”