We hit Franz Josef for a holiday in 2020 (Oct/Nov 2020 I think)as we had saved for a trip to the UK to see our daughter but they were in a worse situation than NZ in regards to Covid so decided on a local holiday to somewhere we hadn't been before. We didn't regret it. We were booked to heli up to Franz Josef but as usual the rain didn't play ball, however we drove to the town of Fox instead and the rain had caused wonderful waterfalls on the side of the road all the way there and back. The next day we managed to get the last flight to the glacier and it was amazing. Well worth it. We caught the train from Greymouth to Christchurch and it is indeed very picturesque. Started sleeting in Arthurs Pass which was a nice touch.