We spent one night at Fox Glacier, where we successfully managed to view the famous glacier and unsuccessfully watched the sunrise at Lake Matheson. Despite having a lovely time here as part of our 10 day South Island road trip, we really want to go back and rectify our mistakes.
When it comes to watching the sunrise over the southern alps with a near perfect mirror image of the mountains in the lake, Lake Matheson is the only spot you’ll want to visit. People have been watching the sun rise here for many, many years.
The title of this article may seem rather simple and obvious to achieve… But we missed sunrise due to a lack of information. So we’ve written this article to help you not make the same mistakes as us, and give you some useful tips for extracting the most out this magnificent beauty, tucked away in the trees.
This post breaks down what Lake Matheson is and explains how to successfully watch the sunrise and avoid our pitfalls, and provide 5 suggestions for you to maximize your experience here!
In true Jess and Ben fashion, we’ll also include our breakfast experience at the Lake Matheson Café!
Lake Matheson is the most reflective lake in New Zealand and is located in the small town of Fox Glacier. It is famous for its stillness and the perfect mirror image it gives of the Southern Alps behind it.
Formed approximately 14,000 years ago, Lake Matheson is a brilliant representation of what can happen when nature just gets it right. Around this lake you will see some absolutely stunning reflections of New Zealand’s tallest mountains in the dark, still water. If you don’t know, these are Mount Cook and Mount Tasman.
The reason the water of Lake Matheson is so dark, is because of all of the organic matter that sits on the bottom. This contributes to the lake offering its perfect mirror-like qualities. The organic matter in question is called humus. Humus is made up of aspects such as fallen leaves and twigs from the forest floor. When this tree litter falls off and finds its way into the water, it breaks down over time and sinks to the bottom of the lake. Due to its dark brown/ black colour, light cannot easily escape, therefore producing some of the most reflective waters in New Zealand.
The lookouts around the lake have been a popular photographing spot for tourists and locals alike, as they provide some of the most iconic and picturesque views of the mountains ever.
To take the best photos, the best time of day is around sunset or sunrise. These times give the most optimal lighting opportunities.
For somewhere as magical as Lake Matheson, we wanted to capture it at its best, with the sun rising over the reflective lake and Southern Alps.
We had our alarms set. We were extremely excited to watch sunrise in this beautiful setting. But we did not do our research and had a slightly stressful situation.
How to Successfully Watch Sunrise at Lake Matheson
Our Mistakes
Our alarm was set for 06:45. According to our watches, sunrise wasn’t until nearly 08:00 so we thought we had plenty of time.
The stars were still out. It was dark and freezing outside. Great!
We jump in the truck and drive the short five minutes down the road to the car park for Lake Matheson. It’s getting a bit light now, but the sun hasn’t risen.
What we didn’t realise is that there was a 20-minute walk to one of the lookouts!
This was really frustrating as we had brought a tripod and my GoPro for a Timelapse and Jess’s camera for some of the awesome sunrise pictures. But we missed the best part!
We walked along the path with haste. I even left Jess behind a little bit, running ahead with the tripod as we knew that sunrise here was truly something to behold.
By the time we got to one of the prime lookout spots, we had sadly missed the start of the sun rising. It was quite light at this point, still absolutely gorgeous though!
Our mistakes: Not researching the lake enough and realising there was a 20 minute walk.
5 Things to Consider for a Successful Sunrise
1. What time is sunrise?
Once you know this, work backwards. For us it was supposedly just before 08:00. We thought that leaving our motel at 07:00 would be enough time however it was not. We probably should have aimed for nearer 06:00am.
The time indicated when looking at the sunrise times is set at when the sun is above the horizon. There’s still light before then because physics.
This would obviously be different during the summer as sunrise is even earlier. Rather than a 06:00am start you are probably looking at a 04:00 start to get there and be adequately set up.
2. How long is the travel from where you are staying to Lake Matheson?
You may be staying in a local motel or in your campervan in the carpark. These both have different travel times. Ours was about 5 minutes in the car.
We have listed a few places further down in this post for you that are close to Lake Matheson.
3. The 20 minute walk!
This was the defining factor in our failure to watch a full sunrise here. We completely overlooked the fact that we’d need to walk anywhere! And were slightly pissed off to find ourselves at the beginning of a 20 minute walk when the clouds were starting the reflect the rising sun.
4. What equipment are you taking and does it need setting up?
I was carrying the GoPro and tripod for the awesome sunrise timelapse I was going to get. Equally if you’re taking a camera you’ll want the correct lenses and a tripod too.
The reality was me frantically rushing ahead of Jess, trying to attach the GoPro to the tripod. It definitely shaved off a few seconds. However, I was only trying to see sunrise not win a Formula One race where a few seconds actually matter.
5. Keep an eye on the weather
Part of the magic of Lake Matheson is the near perfect stillness of it. If it’s bucketing it down with rain, you’ll be cold, wet and unsatisfied. Maybe reschedule if you can or see if sunset would be better instead.
Get there early. Complete the walk in the dark. Get set up. Reap the rewards.
Guided Tours Around Lake Matheson
If you would prefer a professional tour, complete with hotel transfers and a tour guide, then we have listed a few below which are reasonably priced and packed with information!
- A 3-4 hour tour
- Learn about the local ecosystem around the lake with an expert tour guide
- Pickup included- all the way to Franz Josef if you’re staying there
Half-Day Nature Tour to Lake Matheson
- A 3-4 hour tour
- A guided tour around the entire lake, learning about its history, geology, and ecology
- Pickup included, starting in Franz Josef
Places To Stay Near The Lake
As we’ve mentioned, if you are doing a self guided tour of Lake Matheson and want to catch sunrise it’s handy to be fairly close to the lake. We have listed a few places that are all slightly different, are near to Lake Matheson and of good quality!
If you’re looking for a place with pristine views of Mount Cook, this is the place to stay. Budget friendly with self contained rooms, this place is certainly a people pleaser.
Close to the town and only a 5 minute drive from Lake Matheson, this motel boasts a score of 9.3 in terms of location to attractions in Fox Glacier.
We love the TOP 10 Campsites. They have everything you need in terms of amenities. This one also has the mountain view and is a 5 minute drive from Lake Matheson.
Centrally located, this is a backpackers lodge that was voted best for solo travellers.
Click to name of the hotel you like the look of to book!
After what was still an exceptional experience, we collected our bits and started the 20 minute walk back to the car park, which is where you’ll find the Lake Matheson Café that opens at 08:30.
Once here you can sit and look out the massive windows with an incredible view of Aoraki and the other southern alps. The view was amazing, the coffee was delicious and the breakfast really hit the spot.
It wasn’t the ideal menu for vegans but with some shuffling around of the options you can be more than satisfied and there was plenty of dairy free milks.
And there you have it! A bullet proof guide to how to make the most of your New Zealand road trip when at Lake Matheson. If you found this useful, we have a few other articles which are super relevant to a New Zealand South Island road trip that have some great tips and pointers!
Thank you for reading!
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