This Place Actually Exists: Mt Aspiring National Park and the Matukituki Valley, New Zealand

We visited Mt Aspiring National Park for one day in January 2017. We day hiked into the Matukituki valley on the eastern side of the Southern Alps with a side trip to the Rob Roy Glacier. 

We hiked through herds of sheep into strong steady wind alongside inconceivably clear blue water with glaciers towering overhead. 

The sketchy water crossings on the gravel road to the trailhead added an element of potential danger which heightened the sense of adventure. The distances were long. Then scenery, ethereal.

Rob Roy Glacier, waterfall demonstrating the intensity of  the winds at elevation in New Zealand's Alpine Zone