We arrived at Fox Glacier after dark Tuesday, but pleasantly surprised to see the view the next morning. Our last two weeks in New Zealand will be spent working at the "Lake Matheson Motel". We only work 3 hours per day here for our accomodation, but have to provide our own food. While on our way we stopped for groceries in the town of Hokitika (110 miles away) where the closest supermarket is; Fox Glacier only has a small 3 isle food mart with very high prices. The Lake Matheson Motel has 24 rooms with queen & king beds, a few suites, and
2-bedroom apartments. We're going to need the extra off time to see all the sights Fox Glacier has to offer.
View on our first morning. Mount Cook is peeking over the top covered in snow.
Lake Matheson Motel - This is Heather, our host.
Our first job on Wednesday morning was to make beds. After some quick instructions from Heather, we were on our own!
Not bad if we do say so ourselves!
Courtyard of the motel.
Our views!
After our 3 hours shift, we drove just a couple miles out of town to hike to the glacier.
Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches for lunch!
Our little rental car.
This is a small pond by the car park - Awesome reflections in the water.
Another small hike for another view of the glacier.
Unbelievable Views!
Can you believe the color of these mushrooms?
David's hungry!
Fern Head!
We were supposed to stay in the "staff house", but was offered one of the motel's guest rooms. We made our own bed too!
Sunset at the motel.
Relaxing at the end of the day.
On Thursday morning Heather asked us to start work at 11 a.m. so David could mow the lawn. We got up early to go for a run, ate breakfast, then went for a hike around Lake Matheson.
Moss covered trees
Lake Matheson Lake - They call this "The Lake of Reflection". Wonder why?
Another colorful mushroom.
Incredible!
If you look closely David is standing at the foot of the Tree.
We started work at 11 a.m. just in time for tea!
Linda was given the job of ironing sheets and pillow cases. It took a little while to get the hang of it, but not a bad job!
David mowed the lawn and trimmed the hedges.
After our 3 hour shift on Thursday, we headed to Gillespies Beach; only 12 miles from the motel but 8 of that 12 was on a dirt road dodging sheep. It was Baaaa'd. (sorry!)
Driftwood covered the beach.
David was testing the comfort of the rocks in case we wanted to spend the night.
Too many sand flies though!
This was called Gillespies Lagoon.
Part of the trail was flooded so we had to maneuver through the bushes to the next bridge.
Amazing reflections!
Gold miner's tunnels.
At the end of the tunnel was an awesome view of the sea.
It started getting dark on us so we had to head back. We'll have to come back and finish this hike another day. An hour from this point is supposed to be a "Seal Colony" on the beach.
Gillespies Beach at Moonlight! What an awesome way to end our day!
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