Remarkable New Zealand - Day 5!

Today we drove from the east coast to the west coast of NZ in a matter of 4 hours!  That's quite a narrow country, huh!?  We headed west from Christchurch and literally drove into the mountains!  Luckily, we had awesome weather and no snow, so we felt very safe as we made our way on the twisting, winding road through Arthur's Pass on our way to see two of NZ's most famous glaciers.  The coldest temperature on the gauge in the car measured in at -5 Celsius. Brrr!  We of course had to make a few unexpected stops along the way.  Who knew that you would find a lake in the mountains??!  Plus, the way the fog settled in certain areas while driving through the mountains made it especially neat to look at!  After we were out of the mountains, we drove by several stunning rivers.  I'm talking about rivers that are the most brilliant color of aqua blue you've ever seen!  They're all glacier-fed, which is the reason for the gorgeous aqua color you see in the pics.  And they're everywhere!!!!  We stopped for a little while at Franz Joseph glacier to check it out, and then carried on to Fox Glacier where we stayed for the night.  Just outside of Fox, we saw what is quite possibly the MOST beautiful sight during our entire trip through NZ.  Lake Matheson.  We hiked for nearly an hour around this lake to find what can only be described as natural perfection.  A perfect mirror image of Mount Cook (NZ's highest peak) is reflected onto the glass of this lake and it is SPECTACULAR.  Untouched.  Serene.  Peaceful.  Beautiful.  Heavenly.  These are all words that could describe the view.  But, there aren't words to describe what it felt like to actually stand there and stare in jaw-dropping amazement at nature's beauty.