Fox Glacier - Mint!

Monday 28 January

A perfect day at Fox Glacier - the sun rose behind the Southern Alps and stayed with us for most of the day.

It was fascinating - the photo above was taken well over an hour after "official" sunrise, but the Southern Alps are so high that it takes even the sun a while to climb them.

We took a break to clean Banjo then while Diana & Richard took a Heli-Hike up on Franz Josef Glacier, then when the lure of the sunshine became too strong, we headed off up the Fox Glacier Southside Walkway through amazing forest pathways to a glacier viewpoint.

We took the main route up along a wide clear pathway which also doubles as a cycle track and the trees around us were incredible - looking like the inspiration for Tolkien's Ents. While the fields around are growing dry and pale, there is clearly no shortage of water up here - I presume much of it is provided by the frequently low lying clouds which regularly drape these valleys. After reaching the view point and marvelling at the vastness of the Fox Glacier way up the valley (the third largest in Aotearoa at 13km long), we headed back down and took the moraine path detour which was curly wurly, uppy downy and like an enchanted wood. Along the way there were also a couple of signs showing where the glacier terminated in 1750 and 1600 - which was quite astonishing. Firstly in acknowledging how far the glacier has receded in a few centuries, but also when you realise how new some of this seemingly ancient forests are... the massive trees we were passing could not have been more than 250-400 years old, and yet they looked as though they had been here since prehistory.

I became fascinated by the huge number of mosses, lichens and parasitic plants growing on rocks, tree roots and tree trunks along the way. Many of them seemed to be dripping wet and storing moisture. There were so. many shapes, textures and variations in green hues - an insight into the diversity of nature.

Meanwhile Richard & Diana were on a heli-hike up on Franz Josef Glacier which looked absolutely spectacular!

After lunch at Banjo and a bit of blogging, we caught up with the Sands again, admired their glacier photos then set off to walk around Lake Matheson - again, stunning!

Lake Matheson is acknowledged to be one of the finest reflecting lakes in Aotearoa - a combination of it's calm setting surrounded by woodland, the dark waters coloured by tannins from local tree barks and location within the shadow of Aoraki Mt Cook and Mt Tasman (Te Horokōau).

We had a relatively average viewing of the reflections, given that there was a breeze rippling the top end of the lake and the two key mountains were wearing a cap of clouds, but the place was still stunning and the trail around the lake was fairly easy. DoC have done a great job of creating a boardwalk out to and a deck off Reflection Island to accommodate all the visitors seeking the perfect shot, and also a stairway to the View of Views at the bottom end of the lake which does provide a spectacular vista.

After a quick change we popped up the road to “Betsey Jane” which had some great online reviews, and popped our name on the list (no bookings taken). We had a couple of drinks in the casual garden bar (one of these drinks is not like the others!) then were called in around 8.30pm for dinner. We chose a baked brie starter to share which was best ever, and then each of us chose something different for mains and everything was delicious.

Back to Banjo on a chilly evening after a stunning sunset. Time to get out the extra blanket!