The Franz Josef Glacier can no longer be seen from the road or the village, however, on a dull day there is no mistaking where it lies, for a pale light seems to shine from its deep valley. To see the 11 km long glacier in all its shining beauty, you must drive into this valley. The glacier comes into view with dramatic suddenness, the white and turquoise stretch of gleaming ice flowing down from its snowfield, high in the mountains between the Baird and Fritz Ranges.

The present Franz Josef Glacier is less than 7000 years old. Over 14,000 years ago it had an ancestor with huge lateral moraines (debris shed by the glacier) right down to the coast. A classic, 30 m high, crescent shaped ridge known as the Waiho Loop and rising abruptly above the river flats is a terminal moraine formed about 12,000 years ago, when the glacier advanced again after a spell when it had been in retreat.

About 3 km from the present face are heaps of terminal moraine left by the glacier during halts about 1600, 1750 and 1825. Since 1893 has edged forward several times, but since 1950 has receded, apart from a 400 m advance in 1965-67.

These fluctuations are governed by snowfall, the glacier advancing when the snow accumulates faster than it melts, and retreating when melting prevails. Because the melt rate is high at the low altitudes and the valleys are steep, this glacier is highly sensitive to climatic change.