New Zealand - Nov 19 & 20

2 Rest days in Fox Glacier

The little town of Fox Valley Glaciers is surrounded by mountains, nature walks and pristine woods...

This is the valley that leads to the Lake Matheson nature walk.

The walk took us through woods with ferns and plants that seem to have come from the dinosaur age.  

This fern tree appears to be dead except for the one curly growth that is springing to life.  When you are up close to the growth it looks as if it is a cocoon holding a number of caterpillars awaiting their day.  It is surrounded by little brown hair like growths that are as soft as puppy fur.

 

This was a sign along the nature trail that sums up the thoughts as we sat among the beauty that nature served up...

The beautiful lake where we sat silently and listened to the sounds of nature.  You could hear the wind and see it as it rippled the water gently with its hand.  You could see it in the movement of the trees.  Each moving differently as the wind touched them creating as someone said... a scene as graceful as the trees dancing to a soulful tune.

The moss and ferns grew on everything.  One of our group mentioned that we should keep moving or we might start gathering growths.  😊

We took several walks along trails that were so beautiful.

This is the Fox Glacier...

It is in fast retreat with the warming of the earth.  They had pictures of 2008 compared to today... a dramatic difference.

This is the valley that over time the Fox Glacier carved out of the mountains.

And lastly, the river that is fed by the melting glacier.

On one of the walls there was this bridge over a creek which held a dark hollow underneath it.  You could almost imagine a troll living just inside the hole there.  I went to check it out just in case...  😉