Mount Cook

Day 15: Helicopter Hike Fiasco, Mt. Cook Helicopter Scenic tour, MARC SLEPT IN THE CAR, Hot Springs, Stargazing

Day 15 was quite a difficult one. 10 of us woke up in the morning to see disturbingly gray skies and rain falling all morning. We were all worried that the weather might ruin our chances to fly up in the helicopter to the top of Mt. Cook to hike the glaciers and ice caves. We called the airport who told us that at the moment the tour was still a go, so we kept our hopes up and piled into the van. I am surprised that so many of them trusted me to drive 1.5hrs having only experienced driving on the left side of the road for the first time for only 20mins 2 days ago, but whatever. By the time we go to the airport, we were under the impression the tour was still a go and we were excited. Upon talking with the pilots however, we discovered there was too much wind and rain on the mountain to go up at our time. The group ended up going for a hike and to a hotel cafe in the area trying to kill some time for the weather to get better. We ended up waiting over 3hrs for an eventual phone call saying there would be no heli hike, and they could only offer a scenic tour instead.

We reluctantly took the scenic tour as we still wanted to see the mountain, and ended up having a blast. The helicopter took us all around Mt Cook and landed on a couple glaciers, giving us enough time to take plenty of photos.

After touching down, I felt a certain sort of tiredness from such a stressful day, and so for the first time on the trip, I slept in the car. Oh what a sleep it was!Read more