Peters Pool

Peters Pool is a small kettle lake in the rainforest of the Franz Josef Glacier valley, known for reflecting the surrounding mountain walls. It's a reflection stop more than a hike: the wheelchair-accessible return walk is 1.1 km and takes about 25 minutes. Go for the quiet pool and the mirror effect, not a large lake or a long walk. Calm water gives you the best reflections; wind, cloud or drizzle can take the shine off them.

Start from the Franz Josef Glacier Valley car park at the end of Glacier Access Road. From Franz Josef/Waiau, cross the Waiho River bridge, turn left onto Te Ara a Waiau and continue about 4 km to the road end. Return the same way from the pool, or continue on the Douglas Walk. Dogs aren't allowed.

A block of ice left by the retreating Franz Josef Glacier melted among the moraine, the rock and sediment a glacier leaves behind, forming this small lake roughly two centuries ago. That makes Peters Pool a kettle lake. Its scale is part of the visit: you're looking across a compact, sheltered pool, with the steep valley walls and snowy peaks reflected when the surface is still.

The pool is named for nine-year-old Peter Westland, who camped here with his mother, Muriel, in 1894. An iron-clad prefabricated hut once stood nearby, with a stone fireplace and tin chimney. Surveyor-explorers A.P. Harper and Charlie Douglas were its first users; later it served glacier expeditions, and guides working for the Graham brothers used it as a lunch hut where visitors could have billy tea.