Aoraki/Mt Cook

It rained all night and all day yesterday, all night last night, and is set to rain and be a wintry mix all day today. It's also very cold which doesn't mix well with very wet when you have no heating. What would normally be beautiful light blue glacial lake waters, are gray and bleak reflecting the weather. Based on the temperature and forecast for snow near Aoraki/Mount Cook, we decided to drive up to the visitor center to see what was still open and if the weather has impacted any of the trails.

We were a bit slow to leave the warmth of the blankets, so didn't get up to the visitor center as early as planned. The drive started off with rain turning to winter mix to snow. The terrain gradually got snowier as we got closer to the mountains. The clouds were lying low and you could see a decent blanket of snow lying on the top half of all the mountains. We could see Mount Cook in the distance at one point on the drive it was a blanket of white and clouds. Lake Pukaki stayed on our right pretty much the whole way up and the mountains stayed on the left. As we got closer to Mount Cook the snow was lying thicker on trees and mountains. It did look quite magical.

When we got the visitor center, it wasn't busy and a helpful ranger explained that minus Hooker Valley Track (closed around Easter time and we knew it was closed), all the trails were open. With the fresh snow and low lying clouds, we ruled out our plan B, Sealy Tarns. The 2,000+ steps in fresh snow to see absolutely nothing didn't appeal to either of us. Plan C was to walk to the first bridge at Hooker Valley and to back track and walk to Kea Point. It was then a short drive from White Horse Hill Campground to Tasman Lake, so we put that in the plan too.

We got back in the van and drove up to the campground for the first half of our plan. We got all layered up and hiking boots on. With all the foot traffic on the Hooker Valley trail, most of the snow was slushy or compacted and a bit slippery. We started walking through some bushes along the gravel trail. There were a couple of small things to see just off the main trail. The first was Freda's Rock, a large rock where a woman, named Freda, has a picture taken after being the first woman to summit Mount Cook. Further up the trail was the Alpine Memorial dedicated to people who have lost their lives on the way to/from the summit. It was first made for people who died in an avalanche in the early 1900s, and since then small plaques have been added to remember others.

We continued along the trail until we saw the first swing bridge, unfortunately fenced off, going over a glacier river. The clouds were still pretty low and it was clearly snowing at the tops of the surrounding mountains. We went off the main trail and up some rocks to get a higher view of the glacier lake and what would be Hooker Valley in the distance. We also thought we could see the second broken swing bridge in the distance.

After getting some pictures of the lake and mountains, we walked back the way we came and through the parking lot to the second walk, Kea Point. This trail is named after the Kea bird, the world's only alpine parrot. We were hoping we would see one because they are lower down when it snows and therefore easier to see. This walk didn't have much scenery until the end at Kea Point. We had a different view of the lake, and would have been able to see the valley and mountains on a better day. We also would have had more named mountain views like Mount Sefton, but the clouds were just too low. We walked slowly to the parking lot always keeping an eye out for the Kea, but sadly didn't see any.

Once we got back to the van, we got in and drove about 10 minutes up to Tasman Lake. There's a few different tiny walks for different views of the lake and glacier here as well as a longer one along the lake to get up close to the glacier. We took the path that led to the Tasman Lake Glacier Viewpoint. Along the way there was a short branch off the path to the Blue Lakes, no longer blue because of the lack of glacier water flowing into them. They're green now because rain water is what fills them and that causes algae to grow. There were three lakes in a line and easier to see from up the Tasman Viewpoint trail rather than the Blue Lakes trail. The Tasman Lake Glacier Viewpoint trail was mostly steps up a hill for about 15-20 minutes. Once at the top there's a platform allowing you to see the lake and glacier. It was up high and therefore probably the best view you'd get of both of them. We could also see the Tasman River that flows out of Tasman Lake and into Lake Pukaki. It was raining when we first arrived, but luckily turned into a little drizzle while we were up there. We had to be careful on the way back down because of the small patches of compact snow turned ice and the slush from parts that had melted. I slipped a couple of times, but thankfully didn't fall.

Back down at the bottom, there was a picnic hut, so we quickly made some wraps for lunch before leaving Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park behind. We headed back towards the East Coast traveling south towards Moeraki on the way to Dunedin. With our late start, we weren't going to make it to Moeraki until just before sunset, so we hit some small stops along the way.

In Takiroa, just off the road, there's some Maori rock art. Apparently there's a fair bit of rock art at different locations in that area. We took some pictures and then got back in the car. It was a quick stop. Then we stopped at Elephant Rocks. These are huge limestone rocks coming out of the ground that have been weathered to sort of look like a herd of elephants. Allan has a great time here running around and climbing, and trying to climb, the rocks. There was a lot more than I expected when we pulled off! And it was quite reminiscent of Scotland because it was on someone's farm and there were some sheep around.

After Allan was finished trying to climb, we finished the drive to Moeraki to see the boulders. We didn't think to check the tide times, and it was high tide to the point that we couldn't walk on the beach at all; the ocean went right up to the steps down to the beach! We saw the boulders in the distance and decided we'd definitely have to come back in the morning when the tide was lower.

We drove a short 5 minutes to our camping spot at Katiki Beach. The sight was right next to the ocean and it was so nice to hear and see the waves. It was also, finally, not raining. We were able to boil water out of the back instead of being stuck in the van trying to make wraps while being hunchbacked. My mood definitely improved being able to move about outside of the van, even though it was still cold and windy. We also had cell service, so we watched another couple episodes of Netflix before sleeping.Read more