Peaks and Places | Travel and Adventure Blog

After our long hike at Alex’s Knob the day before, neither of us were really in the mood for another long hike, and we continued our journey south to Fox Glacier., or Te Moeka o Tuawe as it is known by the Maori. Fox is larger than Franz Josef, and is over 13 kilometers (8.1 miles) in length. It is also one of the most accessible glaciers in the world, its face being only 300 meters above sea level, and one of the options we are considering for a helicopter glacier tour.

There was a little walk in the area that was highly recommended. The Lake Matheson Walk, or Te Ara Kairaumati Walk, is a short and relaxing walk, about 2 miles long (4.4 km). There were a few too many geese and ducks on the lake for it to be a perfect reflection, but the views of the Southern Alps over the lake were still absolutely stunning, and well worth the trip out and walk around.

After we walked around the lake we headed to the Peak View Lookout of Fox Glacier. This lookout was a very short walk (about 2 minutes) from the carpark and provided a great view of the glacier. There was a place table that we used to point out the glaciers and figure out the names of the nearby peaks. It also told us the height of the peaks. Interesting enough, the measurements were in feet, not in meters. Mt. Cook, or Aoraki in Mauri, was the tallest, at 3,724 meters (12,218 feet). This view point was on the way to our campsite for the night, and was well worth the stop.

We spent the night at a DOC site, the Gillespies Beach Campsite, which had stunning views of the Southern Alps. This campsite is also near an old gold mining settlement, and we took a short walk to see the historic suction and bucket dredges. After seeing the dredges, we walked back along the beach, and while it was not a pretty morning when we woke up, the rain was starting to come down a bit harder, making our plans for the rest of the day feel a little up in the air.

At the carpark of the Lake Matheson hike, there is a little gift shop and cafe, called the Matheson Cafe. We spend the next (very rainy) day in the cafe by the lake, drinking coffee and editing videos, photos, and writing blog posts. This is typically how we spend days that are a little too rainy for us to continue our travels, especially if there were hikes in the plan. While we were there, we also shared a burger, which was delicious and a nice change of pace from our usual Pak’N’Save diet.