Here Comes the Sun, Deet'n Dee Dee!

Another week in Fox Glacier and still raining at least once during the day.  We have had a few mornings that look like the photo below so it gives us hope that we will have a full day of sun before too long!

 This is a view from down the street of Lake Matheson Motel going toward town

The owner of one of the local motels in town was going out of town this week and asked our hosts if they could borrow some help, so Linda worked at the 12-room Rain Forest Motel this week making beds and vacuuming.

 Another view of the Rain Forest Motel

 This is day 18 of us being in Fox Glacier and it has rained everyday. 

We walked to town to enjoy a cup of coffee at one of our favorite coffee shops.

 David has a daily chin-up competition with our Argentina friend, Franando who is 28.  They are up to 15 chin-ups each.  David's goal is to be able to do 25 by the time we leave here.  He is giving the young Argentinian some stiff competition.

 We stepped out of our house one night this week and spotted a full moon just over the mountain range.  Hopefully this is a sign of good weather around the corner!

 We find it is really easy to eat whole foods here in New Zealand.  It is actually cheaper to eat real food here than processed.  Below is a dinner of sirlion steak, green beans, roasted pumpkin and "kumura." (The New Zealand white flesh sweet potato; a sweet potato we haven't been able to find in the states.)

We should be eating this guy before too long.

 We woke up on Friday morning to this!  Where did the mountains go?

 Finally some blue sky!  After a few hours of work on Saturday morning we went for a run to Lake Matheson; just 2 1/2 miles from the motel.  We had a wonderful lunch there and then hiked around the lake.  Below are a few pictures from that hike.

 We loved the tree trunks sticking up in the air.  Kind of looks like "life and death".

 Lake Matheson View Point

 This spot was called the "View of Views".  When the sky is clear, you can see the glacier.  When we arrived, there was a small hole in the clouds where you can barely see the snow-top of Mt. Cook sticking up through the clouds.

 Linda can't seem to pass up swinging on a grapevine.

 Beautiful wild flowers around the lake

On our way back to the motel the clouds started clearing a little more where we got a better view of Mt. Cook. 

 By 8:00 p.m. Saturday night there wasn't a cloud in the sky; and it's still daylight!

 This was our view on Sunday morning.  Maybe we'll have a few days without rain now!

We are taking the next couple of days off and headed to Hokitika, Greymouth and more of the Northwest coastal area.  Should have plenty of pictures to share when we return.

Rainy Summer in Fox Glacier New Zealand

We have been in Fox Glacier for two weeks now and we haven't seen much of the sun as of yet.  Every now and then it might peak through the clouds and tease us just a little, but then the rain comes again.  The mountain range surrounding this little town has some impressive views.  We love looking up at the ever changing mountain views!

We went to Gillespies beach Monday to check out a hike we didn't do when we were here last April.  The hike was 8 miles round trip taking us around Waikowhai Bluff and to another secluded beach called Galway Beach where a seal colony is known to rest. Below is the start of our hike on Gillespies Beach.

After a 1-mile hike along the beach we stopped at Gillespies Lagoon to have lunch

Gillespies Lagoon

Hiking trail through the forest.  We had to go through and jump several puddles on our way since we've had so much rain.

At the end of the trail we came to this step/ladder taking us down 35 feet to an opening to the beach

Galway Beach

We spotted 4 seals lying on this rock

Waterfall coming out of the bluff

Heading back; just some of the flooded paths we had to go through. David contemplating where to jump.

This is a view from the next village over: Franz Josef.  We went there with our host one evening to a local business event.  A new cinema opened up and we got to go along to check it out.  They showed the documentary, "Living in the Age of Airplanes" narrated by Harrison Ford.

Just a little snack we got to enjoy

 Still working a little bit on the side.  Linda learned a fancy way to fold towels.

 David organizing some of the supplies.

It sure is rough working around this view!

We came across this "wood pigeon" sitting in a nearby tree.  It's hard to tell, but this pigeon is about 3 to 4 times larger than a normal pigeon.

 The Master Painter at work

One day this week our host received a phone call from the owner of a local hotel asking if David could fix a light in one of their rooms.  David went down and fixed it in just a few minutes.  A few days later we met another hotel owner in town and he told us David has a reputation in town for being able to fix just about anything!

Below are 2 photos taken 12 minutes apart; this is how fast the mountain view scenes change.

We've been watching the show "American Ninja Warrior".  While out on our run today we "thought" about throwing in a little obstacle course moves.  Nah!

We will make another post when we can; hope you follow along.