Mount Cook

We ventured further up the valley and closer to the mountains, staying right at the foot of Mount Cook, the tallest Mountain in New Zealand. Dwarfed by its size and the surrounding range, we are definitely feeling very small right now.
Our campsite for the night is right by the glacial lake which flows down from the Mount Cook Glacier. We thought we would get our feet wet before dinner but to our surprise it wasn't too cold, we managed to go for a decent swim and we stayed in the water at least half an hour.

After the sun went down we were treated to an amazing sky full of stars. This area is world renowned as one of the best places for star gazing and we were lucky enough to have a clear night with no moon. A few caravans had some pretty huge outdoor lights but we were able to escape their glare and look up at the Milky Way, always a nice treat for two city dwellers.

Next day and its time to tackle the Mountain! It is quite a bit bigger than we had anticipated standing at 3724m, so we settled for a walk up the valley to see the glacier instead. It was a very windy but rewarding walk. The glacial lake right at the base of the mountain always has a few icebergs floating as the glacier breaks apart and retreats. We also stopped by to see some blue pools that have now turned green. Once fed by the glacier and its milky turquoise waters they were blue, but as the glacier retreated up the mountain the pools are now filled by rain water which has allowed plant life to flourish and changed their completion to a muddy green instead. Someone should really change the name.

This feels very isolated place, despite the huge number of tramplers we saw on the walk (one of the busiest we have done), maybe it's just vastness of the mountains and the lakes here. A really great spot to spend the last few nights in our van.Read more