Photos

Franz-Joseph is the biggest glacier in New Zealand.
The West-Coast has a specific weather pattern, that results in about 7m of annual rainfall in the lowland area. In the mountains it's all snow, of course. Being packed by its own weight it turns into ice. That's how the glacier was originated and that's how it lives now.
Global warming makes it recede back to the mountains.
The ice is constantly moving. At the point where I am standing it's 1m per day, thus it's more or less safe there, provided you have cramps on your boots. A bit further where the ice's colour is lighter (if you look at the photo), the ice could move up to 5m per day and it's absolutely dangerous to go there.
The ice extends 10km up from the point where this photo was taken.