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.

Fox Glacier

One of the most amazing things we have discovered on our trip was that there is so many different ecosystems living all together in this area.  There are lush rainforests and glacier valleys that touch each other.  Rocky hills and valleys among dense forests with moss covered trees where the ground doesn't see the sun.

The second glacier we hiked was Fox Glacier.  After seeing Franz Josef, Fox wasn't as "wow"-ing.  The hike was shorter in distance but more brutal.  Most of it was uphill and was very steep, then back down it was so steep that it was painful on the toes and knees.  After the brutal hike, the scenery being not "AS" amazing was slightly disappointing, but by this time we had become "nature snobs" and it was going to take a lot to impress us.... he he!!

Here is some information about Fox Glacier:

Fed by four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier falls 8,500 ft on its 13 km journey from the Southern Alps down to the coast, with it having the distinction of being one of the few glaciers to end among lush rainforest only 980 ft above sea level

The hike was very dry and rocky.  But the scenery around us was very stunning.  The rocky mountains towered out of the ground straight up and were stained from falling water.  There were lots of waterfalls on the mountains along the way.

We had to cross a stream along the way.  

This picture doesn't do the steepness justice.  It WAS super steep!!

This the glacier.  A lot of it is what they call "dirty glacier" because it's hard to tell what's glacier and what is land.  The glacier goes further up and around where you can't see from this point.  They take tours up on both of these glaciers where you can hike around with ice boots and ice picks.  Definitely would have been a cool thing to do if we didn't have the kids.

Savannah, Alyssa and Av drank water from this spring. It was so clear and cold and pure.  Kayla was definitely NOT going to drink from anything that wasn't from the tap.  She was freaking out that the others drank from it.  Drama!!  We saw some people filling up their water bottles with the water.

Ava loved this van.  There were lots of funny painted vans and camper vans all along our trip.  

See the tall towering slope in the background.

Down the road we found a swinging bridge with rushing cloudy blue water.  It was so pretty.

Trying to get all 6 faces in the selfie!!

Franz Josef Glacier Hike

After our amazing spur of the moment helicopter ride we got back on track to find the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers.  Our first stop was the Franz Josef Glacier.  We had hiked 3 and a half miles up the trail to the end of the trail where you can get as close to the glacier as they will let you.

Here's some stats on the Franz Josef Glacier:

Franz Josef Glacier is a 7.5 mile long temperate maritime glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Together with the Fox Glacier  12 miles to the south, and a third glacier, it descends from the Southern Alps to less than 300 980 ft above sea level.

The area surrounding the two glaciers is part of Te Wahipounamu, a World Heritage Site park. The river emerging from the glacier terminal of Franz Josef is known as the Waiho River.^[3]

They were excited to feel the water.  It was super cold water.

Our view from the first look out point.  

Brady thought this sign was so funny.  They have the funniest signs around here.  We guessed this means you can fall on the slippery rocks down the ledge behind us.

Some waterfalls along the trail

The pictures below were from when we were almost at the end of the trail.  We had a great view of the glacier.  We had to climb up a large hill of rocks.  Coming down was much harder.

We figured the White sign was falling ice and the black ones are falling rocks.

Below: Our view from the top of the trail... a zoom in of the glacier.  

If you look closely you can see large cracks in the ice made from the moving glacier.  A glacier is actually a river of ice.  It is slowly moving in the summer months.

On our way back down the trail we stopped at the waterfall that they had seen and had been dying to get closer to.

This is the water that was coming off of the glacier, not a stream from the waterfalls.  It is cloudy because of rock dust that is in the water from the glacier.  When you see cloudy water, you know it is straight off a glacier and is brain numbing cold!!  You don't get used to the water the longer your hand is in it... it stings more and more because it's so cold.

Heading back to the car... Such a cute picture of Ava and Brady hiking back.  The girls were great hikers!!