Mt Cook National Park

The road to Mt Cook wasn't particularly long but it was pretty dramatic. Not in the same way as normal, where the winding roads reveal more and more of the hillsides and coastlines, this was a pretty flat road, quite high up on a plateu of golden grasses and tussocks that blew in the wind and caught the light as far as the eye could see. Small alpine forests dotted the landscape too and then in the distance to mountains range revealed the stunning, snowcapped Mt Cook on the horizon. It was perfectly framed by the mountains around it and the expanse of grassland around us, the road ahead heading straight down the middle. There were barely any cars on the road and it felt pretty desolate.
The closer we got to the mountains the more amazing they looked. Then we got to Lake Pukaki, a huge lake that the road hugged on route. It was the most amazingly bright aquamarine shade of blue that it just didn't seem real. The dull green and golden grass landscape with rocky grey mountains was cut through the middle with this brilliant blue that really should have belonged to tropical islands.

We stopped for several photos on route and eventually arrived at the village of Mt Cook where we stopped lunch with the amazing backdrop of the mountain. Barely a cloud in the sky!

A man eating next to us advised that we do the Hooker Valley walk as you get amazing views and you can see the Glacier at the end with icebergs in the Lake! We were sold, so off we went as it was a 3 hour return and we didn't have hours to spare.

We heard another siren at the beginning of the walk, they are like air raid sirens and you can hear them all through the valley. We have since worked out they are to alert of an emergency as many emergency services in the remote areas rely on volunteers. Still kept a lookout for an avalanche though! Just in case.

The walk to the viewpoint was beautiful. Not to up and down which was good, today was meant to be an easy day after all the walking.
The valley was filled with grasses, tussocks and flowers including huge daisies and dandelions. We also managed to find one Mt Cook Lily which I was on the hunt for, it was a very beautiful flower.
Every turn looked like a postcard picture, the mountains, valleys and little rivers of milky blue and grey just creating the perfect frame.

The mountains were just incredible to look at and I counted at least 8 glaciers in view at one time. I also managed to fall over whilst looking up in awe and counting.

The wind on the walk picked up massively the closer to the mountain we got, it was like a huge wind tunnel. The swing bridge closest the viewpoint was so so windy whuch meant it moved even without you walking. Very entertaining to walk across! You might as well be drunk.

The view of the lake and the Glacier that terminated there at the bottom of the huge Mt Cook was awesome. It was a perfect cliff of ice that just disappeared back into the crevices of the mountain. And there were the icebergs too, three of them floating in the Lake, all shades if white, grey and blue. A pretty awesome sight.

On the way back Rob chambered over rocks in streams to get some great shots and we watched as the once clear mountain tops started to gather cloud. They were just hugging the very tops and then been dragged down the sides by the strong winds. It looked a bit like they were falling down, like a cascading river of cloud that eventually disappeared into a wispy nothing.

After seeing My Cook in all its glory we headed towards Tekapo. It is another stunning lake and a bug tourist attraction. It is quite amusing what people find so fascinating in these places. The Church of the Good Shepherd is one that draws crowds of photographers so that you can't really photograph it without several people in the way. We weren't too fussed. It is cute, but the crowds lessen the attraction. What was most strange was the people.in the wedding dress and suit. They quickly changed out of it at their car so who knows...maybe just a photoshoot? Very odd!

Our drive from Tekapo to.our free camp for the night took us past more amazing lakeside views and we saw lots of eagles too. In fact one such eagles flew right across the road ahead and had we not slowed down we would have smushed it, it was big!

After a very bumpy Road down the bluest canal I have ever seen, we pulled up amongst the many other campers and enjoyed some soupy rice before settling down to sleep as we were once again exhausted!Read more