fox glacier.

Two days ago I ventured ten hours by bus to a small town called Fox off the west coast of the south island. Home, what I consider to be a small town might have 3,000 residents, but just on the way to Fox we passed through one town with a population of two (plus their dog.) Fox has about 200 residents and one grocery store which is really more of what I would consider a gas station.
Fox Glacier is settled in the middle of a rainforest, and the glacier sometimes shrinks up to a meter per day in the summer time.  Walking onto the glacier, I felt like I must have been transported to another world, or at least another half of the world I thought I was on-- after spending two weeks in warm farming mountains, I was suddenly surrounded by rocky cliffs and glacial streams.

At some point, it dawned on me that this was the most special place I'd ever been. I tried to cherish the few short hours I spent on the ice, but already I'm wishing I was back there. No photos or words could do the magic of this place any justice.