We backtrack just a few miles to Monro Beach trail, a walk out through the forest to a remote beach where Fiordland Created Penguin nests (not this time of year, darn). We are early enough to be first on the trail for the day. Brilliant sunlight sets the very top of the canopy ablaze. We walk through the cool, still, night air that has been captured under the tunnel-like understory. The scent that greets us just screams, “the world feels alive”. Not just the plants and not just the birds. This place, it lives and breathes in its own fantastic way. Amazing. We burst out onto the beach and just as dramatic as the blazing sun are the masses of sand flies. Oh my gosh. We dawdle just long enough to finally wet our toes in the surf and grab pictures of the rock-strewn coast. Then we scurry off back into the shelter of the forest and leave the beach to the voracious flies. No penguins by the way.
Next stop is Matheson Lake in Fox Glacier. Normally it is a quiet walk around a refection lake that showcases Mt Cook. It is an odd walk today. Clouds have rolled in so no mountain reflection. The odder part, they are working on a trail that climbs above the lake and helicopters are ferrying tons of rock by hopper-load from the flats near the lake to the trail route rising above it. Wow, very noisy and it goes on for hours. Any other day, an impressive serene walk. We overnight here in Fox Glacier. Maybe it will be clearer tomorrow for a good walk to the glacier. Let’s hope.