Mount Cook

A change of wet clothes for Rich and quick coffee at the bungy place, and we were off for a spectacular drive through the desolate rolling brown hills of Central Otago, past the iridescent blue of Lake Pukaki and finally snow capped peaks and glaciers of the Southern Alps, we arrived in Mount Cook Village.














After finding our lodge, which doesn't take long as it is a tiny place really just set up as a base for tourists, we set out on the 3 hour hour round trip to the Hooker Lake and Glacier. We checked we were on the right path with some trampers in the car park who helpfully pointed out a good point about 30 minutes into the walk where they got views of Mount Cook. We couldn't see a thing when we go there except clouds, in fact we weren't even entirely sure which way to look. However, after another an hour or so walking, across a couple of rope bridges over roaring glacier run-off rivers the valley opened up and the clouds cleared to reveal a great view of the 3755m beauty. Just time for a couple of photos and the clouds descended again. The fun wasn't over though as this was our first chance to examine a glacier at reasonable close quarters and the terminal lake had a good number of large icebergs floating around.














The next morning we woke to bright clear skies and a perfect view of Mount Cook from the balcony of our lodge – honestly you wouldn't have know it was there the day before. We breathed a sigh of relief as we had booked in for the 8:30am scenic flight. When I saw the size of our plane however my relief turned briefly to panic. This was further exacerbated when the pilot cheerfully told us that it might be rather bumpy. The plan was to fly over The Divide, the mountains separating the Mount Cook area from the West Coast, so that we could see the Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. However, as there was a strong south westerly wind we were told it might be to bumpy so we would have to go up and see how it went.















Our luck was in and not only did we have the whole plane to ourselves (apparently you could squeeze in five passengers), but the wind turned out to be not as bad as expected allowing us to complete the planned route. After I had controlled my initial terror, helped by taking an excessive number of photos, it was a really incredible experience. The views of the mountains and glaciers are spectacular and you can see every feature so clearer – a veritable geology 101.














After circling over the top of the Tasmin Glacier three times, each at a slightly lower altitude, to check if the snow was not too wet for landing we finally touched down – a pretty surreal experience seeing the mountains fly past as the plane comes to a surprisingly gentle landing on skis. Ten minutes or so on the ice gives you a chance to marvel at your surrounding and take yet more photos before you point the plane down the glacier and hope it takes off again.














The rest of the day couldn't possibly live up to the excitement of the start but we had a pleasant enough drive past yet another stunning blue lake, Lake Tekapo and then on to Wanaka. For anyone who is interested, and hasn't already read the section in the lonely planet, the lakes in this area get their bright turquoise colour from sediment in the water which was created when the lake's basin was gouged out by a glacier. The milky quality that this gives the water refracts the sunlight creating the brilliant colour.