We would like to rent a car from the glacier area, preferrably Franz Josef to drive to Queenstown. We are taking the tranzapline train and then have a bus taking us to Franz Josef.

Where is the closest car rental place?

Hi, I would be surprised if there IS a car rental depot at the glaciers. If you want to drive from the glaciers to Queenstown you could (1) rent the car in Greymouth and drop the bus rental (2) catch a bus or shuttle back to Hokitika where there is a Budget office.

Franz Josef is tiny and has no car rental agencies that I'm aware of. Most people coming from CH via the train collect their rental car in Greymouth.

Thanks for the responses. I suppose we will try to pick the car up in Greysmouth.

Is the drive difficult from Greysmouth to Franz Josef. It will be our first taste of driving on the other side of the road.

The first time I drove in NZ was from Greymouth to Fox glacier. That was probably the easiest drive of the 1200 miles that I drove in NZ. Mostly straight, mostly empty roads.

It probably helped that whenever I came to an intersection, I had a chorus of 3 people say, "look right, drive left."

Just remember that when you are in a roundabout, you have the right of way.

The road from FJ to Fox is more difficult.

That would be a easier stretch to warm up on than the glaciers to Queenstown.