This Agua Is Mirror Colored – Lake Matheson – Fox Glacier, New Zealand

We spent the last day and a half at Fox Glacier, one of the two well-traveled glaciers on New Zealand’s west coast. The weather hasn’t been great (but still no comparison to what it’s like at home, so we’re not complaining!), but since our time here was limited, we did a hike up to the terminal face of the glacier in the rain anyway. It was about what you would expect it to be… a big dirty chunk of ice sliding down a mountain. The actual hike up was stunning though; because of the rain, there were several waterfalls cutting through the sides of the gorge that we were walking through. This morning, things cleared up and we were finally able to see some of the snowcapped mountaintops that are just miles away from us, but are usually hidden by fog and clouds. We went for an early morning walk to one of New Zealand’s most photographed spots. Lake Matheson was formed by Fox Glacier itself thousands of years ago, and has water that is so dark brown that it becomes reflective when still. It is also home to eels that can grow up to 6 feet long (Kevin decided to keep his fingers out of the water this time). We were lucky enough to witness this sunrise with almost no wind and some snowy mountains peeking through the clouds!