Aoraki/Mount Cook

Today we were energized and ready to set off on a 4 hour walk at Aoraki/Mount Cook to Hooker Valley which has three suspension bridges and a rocky pathway to see the most amazing view of the huge Mount Cook. It is named after one of 4 Maori brothers and as the kids spotted, the snow had fallen in such a way that the brother, Aoraki had an angry look on his face! As we walked the view became more spectacular, more snow, more waterfalls, more glaciers until we finally got to the end of Hooker Valley with the lake filled with icebergs. As we were sitting resting and looking at an iceberg in the lake, there was a huge explosion and one tipped upside down right before our eyes. A NZ couple behind us had been on the same walk 15 times and had never seen anything like it! There was lots of bribing of lollies along the way and Hamish’s steptracker got a work out and totalled a huge 22,000 steps for the walk! His poor little legs! After such a long walk, we decided to hit the road as the free camping at Mount Cook was merely a car park with loads of RV’s so we drove to a town between Twyzel (where a few scenes from Lord of the Rings was filmed) and Oamaru, called Kurow. We tried the free camping site, which was by the Belmore River (the biggest dam in the Southern hemisphere), Michael backed the motorhome down this steep driveway, parked right by the river with picnic seat and BBQ only to see the sign that said “No Camping” – so much for the free camping app! Anyway, the girls and I were much happier to go to the local caravan park where we were met by a lovely NZ couple who gave the kids free candy canes, paddle pops and me, an apricot cookie! The play area got a real workout before dinner and we headed for bed pretty early after a huge day of walking.Read more