Lake Matheson and Minnehah trail (glow worms)

Lake Matheson is a small lake outside of the Fox Glacier township that is a popular destination for sightseers due to the amazing reflection that you can see of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman when the lighting is right and the lake is glassy and smooth.  We went near dusk to see if we could catch a picture.  By this time we had already hiked the girls our on our Franz and Fox glacier hikes and Alyssa's feet were hurting and Ava was getting burned out.  So, after about 15 min, they were burned out and I had to turn around back to the tourist area with them for a rest.  Brady, Kayla and Savannah did the walk out to the lookout point for some pictures. Without the slow people, they were able to fast walk it and get there in back really quickly.  Luckily I had the key to the car, my wallet and a gift shop open!!  Yeah for souvenirs.

A picture of a selfie...

...the selfie!

A triple selfie!!!

The champion hikers!!  We probably did  8 miles that day.

Not a lot of pictures of this activity as it was PITCH DARK (which is impossible to get an unblurry picture in).  We were on a trail called the Minnehaha track.  Brady had researched this trail and knew we had to have a few headlamps, but that we had to hike with them off.  In order to see the glow worms, it has to be dark.  This picture is of us looking at a bunch of the glow worms on a tree.  They are so tiny but put off a glow and can be seen very easily.  They put off this glow from their end to attract bug to get caught in their slimy trap to eat.

Here is a picture from the internet of glow worm slim traps.  They spit these long strings out which catch prey.  They slide along the top of these traps and their end glows attracting the bugs.  This picture makes it look big, but they are very small.

After our long day, we were exhausted and headed back to our little motel called the Pine Grove Motel.  Out in the middle of nowhere, no cell service, no wifi.  But great when you're TIRED!!

The next morning we slept in and Brady got up EARLY as the water in a nearby river was calling his name.  He didn't catch anything but loved trying just the same..... 

 Now heading through the Haast Pass.