To Fox Glacier We Go

After our short time in Christchurch, we had a long drive ahead of us to make it to the glaciers. The best way to drive was to go through Arthur's pass, which meant we saw lots of mountains. On the way up, we stopped at this point to look at the strange rock formations that were randomly spread out.


How did these rocks get on these mountains?


We walked to the base of the where the rocks started, but since we had a long drive, we weren't going all the up. Look at the amazing mountains that we were surrounded by.


On the way to the glaciers, we stopped at this small town to look at some stores. David had been seeing sheep all day long that he decided that he wanted to be like one.


Jade from New Zealand is a big thing, but it's actually different from Chinese jade. They also tended to carve different shapes to represent different meanings. If you look closely, you can see my little friend hiding in the jade.


We ended up spending the night at Fox Glacier, which is the lesser known location of the 2 glaciers. Both of them are pretty close to each other. I would only recommend Fox Glacier because Lake Matheson is 5 minutes from the town.


We got to cross this bridge to get to our walking path. The bridge was fun since it would move around while you walked on it. If a lot of people were walking at once, it made you feel as if you were drunk while walking!


The key to coming to Lake Matheson is to come in the early morning. It's when the lake will be calm and the sun won't be too high in the sky. Then you can get some amazing photos with the reflections of the mountains and trees.








After we finished circling the lake, we drove to the parking area for Fox Glacier. We had decided to visit the glacier from a distance for free instead of paying NZ$85/person for a 4 hour hike and walking on the actual glacier. There was this stream running from the glacier and I think this sign was telling you to go swim in it.


Watch out for the falling rocks by posing as if you were a body builder.


The glacier is just a mountain of ice hidden between these two mountains. It seems to magically appear.


This was as close as we could get to the glacier. The weather was significantly colder closer to the glacier and in the shade compared to when we were in the parking lot.


I was a rebel and went past the boundaries, but I made sure to do it after the tour guide left the area so I wouldn't get in trouble.


To get to the base of the glacier, we had to cross this small stream. It seemed like a good family photo moment as we hopped across back towards our car.


Finally, to give you all some perspective of how big these mountains were and how small the path was. That blue figure in the bottom middle is David sitting on a rock waiting for us.


After we explored the glacier, we were off to Wanaka!

Sorry about the delay in posts. Between all the visitors that we've had, I've been working a lot so it makes it harder to commit to posting every day. Hopefully I finish up New Zealand by the weekend so that I'm not so far behind!