Getting Ready for a Coat of Paint

St James church at Franz Josef on our way to Queenstown from Hokitika on the West Coast on our third day of my friends from the UK, trip around the South Island. It was a long day of travelling but saw so many interesting places on the way to Queenstown.

The little white and brown church of St James at Franz Josef sits above the banks of the Waiho River and is surrounded by bush. It was designed by architects J.S. Turnbull (1864-1947) and P.W. Rule of Timaru (1888-1953) and built in 1931. Originally known as Waiho, the town of Franz Josef was established as part of the gold-mining rush on the West Coast, but rapidly became dominated by tourists visiting the Franz Josef glacier. The Franz Josef glacier, in conjunction with the Fox further south, are two of the most accessible and low-lying glaciers in the world. By the 1900s groups of visitors were being guided on trips to the glacier and a hotel for the tourist trade had been constructed at Waiho. For More Info: www.historic.org.nz/TheRegister/RegisterSearch/RegisterRe... November 4, 2013 New Zealand.