NZ Vacation Day 4 - Fox Glacier (Part I)

We only spent one night in Hokitika as that was meant to break up our journey from Christchurch to Fox Glacier. Fox Glacier was an easy 160km from Hokitika and along the way, we stopped to see Lake Matheson, which was just 5 minutes' drive from Fox Glacier's town centre.

Lake Matheson is supposed to be a photographer's dream. The waters of Lake Matheson are dark brown in color, due to the natural leaching of organic matter from the surrounding forest floor. On a calm day, the dark-colored waters create an ideal reflective surface, much like a mirror. Reflections of New Zealand's highest peaks, Aoraki (Mount Cook) and Mount Tasman, can be seen in the waters.


Click on the picture of the map below to enlarge it. (This can be done for all the pictures on this blog too). We took a 10-minute brisk walk to Jetty Viewpoint for our first glimpse of Lake Matheson.


Here's my dad on the Clearwater River suspension bridge, which we had to cross while walking to Lake Matheson. The Clearwater River drains off the lake and the water is supposed to be brownish under the bridge but quickly becomes clear thereafter. We forgot to see if that was true as it was so windy and cold! We had just focussed on walking quickly to see Lake Matheson, worried that the kids might get too cold.


And finally, here we are at Jetty Viewpoint, to get our first view of Lake Matheson. And boy were we disappointed! There was nothing spectacular about the lake and no mirror image to speak of! Of course, that was because we were not there on a "calm" day. :( Instead, it was windy and raining, so the "mirror" effect was totally gone. You can see Lake Matheson behind us. (We quickly took this shot of ourselves instead of asking my dad to take a picture of us as we were worried the kids might fall into the water if they were unsupervised! The viewing platform was right by the water's edge!)


Lake Matheson once again, this time without us blocking the view. :P


But I know how beautiful Lake Matheson can be, from pictures seen on the internet and also from these picture-perfect shots taken by Uncle Soon Leng just a week before we visited Lake Matheson. Look at the mirror image of the trees and mountains on the surface of the water! It's too beautiful for words!


Another shot taken by Uncle Soon Leng. Thanks for letting me use your awesome pictures! :)