Mount Cook / Aoraki

The clocks went back last night, does that mean we had an extra hour in bed? I never know 🤔

Our cottage is in a valley and when I looked out the window this morning, we were shrouded in fog. Thankfully this burnt off fast as the sun was in full shine mode and hot from the off.

Today’s outing was to Mount Cook, less than an hours drive away. The drive took us past Lake Pukaki, its pale translucent blue gleaming in the sun. We walked down to the waters edge and watched the water gently rippling along the rocks, it was so peaceful (once the kid throwing rocks into the water got hauled away by his mum!)

The landscape was outstanding, the Southern Alpes was our backdrop with Mount Cook (NZ’s highest peak) majestically rising in the background.

We made our way to the Sir Edmond Hilary Centre, aka The Hermitage for a cuppa. We stayed here once, back in the day. I don’t remember much about it other than it was so dark, we struggled to find our way back to our accommodation after dinner!

We went for a stumble on a gravelly pathway towards the Hooker Valley. According to the sign, it estimated 3 hours for a normal person to follow the track there and back. This wasn’t going to happen (not with these creaky knees and achy hip!) so we went to the first ‘swing bridge’ to get a flavour.
On the way there we were bathed in hot sun, but on the way back it dipped behind a hill and the heat went out of the day in an instant. Ended up being a lovely walk, in stunning surroundings, but it took us an hour to walk less than a quarter of the trek, so the estimated 3 hours really was way off!

Ended the day with a Chinese takeaway from a local food van. There were a bunch of food vans parked up, offering different dining options. Good to have a night off from cooking.

And another lovely day ticks to the end……Lue lisää