Since the last post, we have transferred from the south east of South Island to well up the West Coast. As the Southern Alps are in the way, this is not a direct route and we have taken 3 days for the journey. We stayed Friday and Saturday nights in Arrowtown, near Queenstown but much quieter. A lovely place. Then on to Fox Glacier for Sunday night. We stayed here because Gay wanted to have a look at Lake Matheson, which could be quite an insignificant body of water but it is famous for reflections of the close by mountain range and especially Mount Tasman and Aoraki Mount Cook. Both of these are pictured above. Tasman is on the left of the picture, looking bigger than Cook because it is nearer the camera, but Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand. Both are permanently snow covered and also in the Southern Alps there are many glaciers.
We went to Lake Matheson on Sunday but were disappointed by the lack of reflections. In fact we couldn't even see the mountains because of the rain and low cloud. This shaky bridge gives access to the track which circumnavigates the lake.
On Monday morning we awoke to thick mist so expected that we would have to come back another time to get the full benefit of Lake Matheson. But the sun soon broke through and, as we watched, stripped the clouds away from the mountains, so that we could get the cameras to work.
Did I mention that on Thursday the physio in Balclutha had changed the tapes on Gay's legs to a pair in bright pink? This had an excellent effect on the Achilles tendon injuries and by Monday morning she was up for trying the track round the lake. This was billed as 2.6 kms, but it took us well over an hour, excluding the stops for photo opportunities. These abounded - this is just one result:
Progress continues with the injury. This morning we did the 10k Milennium walk here in Hokitika, again with no ill results. The tapes come off this evening.
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