We start the morning finding somewhere for coffee  so settle on New World Hokitika

After this, we’re on the road heading south where we have a brief stop in Hari Hari to get another coffee and some lunch supplies from On the Spot Pukeko Store And Cafe

Our first stop of the day is Lake Matheson; we park up and take the left side of the lake and have a pit stop early on for some lunch

The lake is rather wide and takes just over an hour to wander all the way around

It’s renowned for it’s reflection of the beautiful mountains nearby when it has clear water – annoyingly it’s a bit windy and cloudy so not this particular view but still very pretty

Just a little bit further south down the road is Fox Glacier Viewpoint / Te Kopikopiko O Te Waka

We stop and get a photo of the Fox Glacier (see the featured image) but notice some ruckus in the neighbouring trees here and find a number of kererūs!

Now, we drive back north and to the Franz Josef Glacier Car Park

There are a number of walks from this point but we go for the route that gives you the classic view of the glacier

Following this, we have some time to kill so head over and park at the start of the Alex Knob trail and take the Douglas Track

This route takes you to the beginning of the Robert Point Track – we won’t do this walk but we do wander over the swing bridge here before continuing our trail

From here, we wander towards Peter’s Pool – another point famous for it’s reflective ability

This body of water is known as a kettle lake as it was formed by a huge block of ice left behind during the glacier’s withdrawal

Next, we wander to the main carpark and via Te Ara a Waiau Walkway/Cycleway to get back to the car and then into Franz Josef town

After a look around to find a menu closest to our budget, we go for Blue Ice Restaurant & Bar as they have a deal on Fridays for pizza

Pretty tired, we finish most of the food, takeaway what we don’t and drive to Whataroa where we check into Glacier County Motel and get some rest