Mount Cook

Today we said our final goodbyes to Christchurch as we loaded up the car and headed out to New Zealand’s tallest mountain, Mt. Cook. Along the 4 hour drive we saw lots of great scenery. First was Lake Tekapo, with its beautiful blue water. We stopped for a little while to take in the views and stretch our legs as they had been jammed into the packed car for a couple of hours. After that, we continued on our way and came upon Lake Pukaki. That was where we got our first views of the stunning Mount Cook. Looking out across the beautiful lake, the mountain dominates the background. We stopped again and picked up a trail map at the visitor center to get us ready for our hike when we spend the day here tomorrow.

We arrived at the Glentanner Holiday Park at about 5pm, ready for some dinner and some rest so we went into “town” to the café which had incredible views of the mountain at sunset. When we arrived back at the holiday park after dinner, we were greeted by a bus load of junior high aged girls who must be on some sort of retreat or something. Awesome. We’re hoping that we can get at least some sleep tonight to rest up for the hike tomorrow. Will check back with more then….

….Thankfully, we all got plenty of sleep last night despite the junior high drama happening outside of our cabin (13-year old girls hugging pink pillows while crying about who got to stay with who in which cabin…yeah, awesome) and were well-rested for a full day of hiking today. Chris and Doug started the day off early as they rose with the sun (sort of; they kind of beat the sun by about an hour) to check out the views of Mount Cook at sunrise. Jen and I (I’m Sue; I think that writing in the third person can be a little weird and confusing, so you’ll always know when I’m writing) slept in a little bit and got up around 7am. Thankfully, the sun had waited for us and was still rising when we woke up and it was a great site to see to start the day.

After breakfast, we set off on a long-ish hike in Hooker Valley, which offered some fantastic views of Mount Cook and the surrounding mountains. After crossing two suspension bridges, we got our first look at a glacier and some icebergs that had broken off and are now floating in the lake. We stopped to refuel with some lunch, then headed back to hike up to Kea Point and check out another glacier and some more amazing mountain views. Next, we hopped in the car for the short drive to Tasman Valley and did a series of short hikes to check out another glacier, some lakes, and some more great scenery. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted and happy to go back to our fully equipped cabin for a pasta dinner.

Tomorrow, we’ll be heading further south to Te Anau with a stop in Queenstown (just a pit stop; we’ll be headed back to Queenstown on our way to the glaciers in a few days). I’ll be driving the car for the first time and doing my best to not drive off the side of the road or hit anything (don’t tell Jen and Chris, but the last time I drove on the left side of the road was in Australia and I may have scratched the hubcaps up against the side of a curb…no major damage). More updates to come!