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the mountains above. At Fox Glacier, take a detour to Lake Matheson— on a still day, it reflects Aoraki / Mount Cook and Mount Tasman with mirror-like clarity. We’ d been told that a little further would provide the greatest views of the glacier and we weren’ t disappointed.
But glaciers are fickle giants. In recent years, climate change has forced them to retreat. The roads and viewpoints are constantly shifting. That impermanence lends the landscape an urgency, a feeling that you’ re not just touring a destination, but bearing witness to it. It was an experience of importance and an issue that must be told if it ever to be resolved. The evidence of natures retreat was well before our eyes, and I was astonished to learn that only one of the worlds’ many glaciers is not in decline. It sits on almost the same latitude as our position yet is a third of the way around the planet.
From here, the road south to Haast was sublime. It tightened as it entered the dense rainforests of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area. The Haast Pass isn’ t the highest or longest in New Zealand, but it is perhaps the most haunting. Mist
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