Sunday, December 8, 2013
I met up with a Canadian guy and a Danish girl from the hostel early this morning to go to Lake Matheson together. Lake Matheson is known as the most famous mirror lake, and early in the morning is when visitors are most likely to find the money shot. When I woke up at 5:30am, it wasn’t raining, but of course it started again by the time we reached the lake about 6km outside town. Why we decided to carry on in the rain was beyond me. It was an hour long walk around the lake through rainforests and creeks to reach our destination. We couldn’t see a single reflection in the water, but I think, I think, there were snow capped mountains in the background. If I used my imagination real hard, I could definitely see them. I could picture this being an absolutely beautiful place if it were clear outside, but my advice to anyone who wants to pursue Lake Matheson in the rain is there is no view. Maybe on my next travel up the West Coast, I will strike gold with a sunny day at Lake Matheson to soak up the scenery.
Emily and I caught the bus to Franz Josef, about a half an hour north of Fox Glacier, where it was still raining. We checked into the Glow Worm Cottages and spent the afternoon grocery shopping and scoping out our new spot. Unbeknownst to me, the West Coast actually is in the rainforest, hence the continuous rain. A fair warning would have been nice. My travel books, backpacker encounters, nothing even remotely mentioned to me how wet the glacier towns would be. I feel a bit foolish about that one, but it is still beautiful here regardless of the weather.
Steph Dobson 