Click here for photos, then hit the button at the top.

Franz Josef was an Austro-Hungarian Emperor who never colonised or even visited New Zealand.

4 Franz Josef facts:

*His 68-year reign is the third longest in the recorded history of Europe - 1848-1860.

*He avoided an assassination attempt in 1853 because he wore a uniform with a particularly stiff collar.

*The heir to his throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo, an event which led to World War 1.

*The archipelago Franz Josef Land in the Russian high arctic was named in his honour as was the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand's South Island.

There are three ways to visit the glacier - two walks and by helicopter.

We chose the helicopter, but didn't even get close thanks to the weather - gutted! But we loved the little town of Franz Josef, and managed to view the glacier from afar. We then set off north for Kaikoura where we met some really strange looking animals along the way (and also caught some pretty funny signs at a little roadside town).