Fox Glacier

We arrived in Fox Glacier on Saturday afternoon and wandered through the village. A quaint little place. Upon inspection of the map of town we realized that there wasn’t a whole lot to do that you could walk to so we rented a couple of bikes. Go cross-training! So we biked out to a lookout point where you could see Fox Glacier, Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook. It was beautiful and a fairly flat ride- even better. Going back towards town we stopped at Lake Matheson to check out that scene. Lake Matheson is one of the most photographed places in New Zealand because when all elements are aligned you can get reflection shots of the two mountains on the lake. Even when all is not perfect, it’s a pretty great view, and that was on our itinerary for Sunday after church. So after visiting Our Lady of the Snows church (Ginny- for whatever reason, little Catholic church made me think of you) we set out to walk down to Lake Matheson, do the loop around the lake and then head back. My mission was to get 11 miles under my belt as a training walk, Emrys’s mission was to play photographer. So after I’d walked around the lake and half way again, we headed back to town and crashed for the afternoon!

Today was glacier hike day. I took the half day hike, knowing that there’s a lot of uphill I decided that I’d be a happier camper if I stuck with the short (4hr) hike. As I write, Emrys is still off on the all day hike (7hr) and I’m happily showered and organizing photos! It was a great experience. The glacier was beautiful and the weather was great. Unfortunately I got in the group with Billy Goat guide who’s objective was to get in and out the fastest, rather than allow his group to enjoy the scenery and experience. So aside from being frustrated about being rushed it was pretty good. The “uphill stairs” as described in the promotional material was a bit of an understatement. I definitely got more cross-training. We spent the better part of 90 minutes climbing and descending stairs in the rainforest.

So tomorrow we’re off to Franz Josef to check out another glacier. This one apparently is more heavily traveled and in a different kind of setting. We’ll see what it brings.