Aoraki/Mount Cook

The place we stayed at Omaua Downs was so lovely. It wasn't easy to top it but Aoraki/Mount Cook did.

We got up and the sun was shining on the far mountains. From where we were we couldn't see where we would end up that day. We got into the car and started driving to the park. Parks here are under DOC, Department of Conservation. Yesterday we were told that 1/3 of the South Island is national park. The ride took us past Lake Pukaki. This is the second of the two stunning lakes we say.

We stopped and took pictures and I had my first experience of the deceptive distances caused by the clarity of the air. We walked to the lake and it was a whole lot farther than I thought! This would be a theme all day.

We drove into the park and into Hooker Valley. The guy who ran the place we were sleeping at with his partner recommended a walk to Rachel. It was a 3 hour return walk that led over 2 suspension bridges and to a glacial lake with ice and maybe a view of Mt Cook.

What he didn't mention was the other lake, the glacier we walked beside, the mountains all around us, the fact the path not only led over two rivers but through a stream, and the Alpine Memorial to those who had died on the very same mountains.

Other things we were lucky enough to discover on our own were the views behind us the Lake Pukaki in the distance melting into a blue sky and clouds, the awesome roar of a avalanche in the distance, the look of blue ice under the snow, watching the clouds move in as the weather made one of it many dramatic changes, removing and then re-adding layers of clothing as we went through another micro-climate, seeing such brilliant colors in a landscape that I had stupidly thought was barren, and getting to talk to people from around the world as we walked.

After that walk we warmed up in the Old Mountaineer's Cafe with pies and chips. We finished our day at Mt Cook with a shorter trip to see the Abel Tasman glacier. That walk was much shorter but it was straight up! And the DOC had done such a nice job of making the path look like part of the landscape that I lost it and ended up going straight up the side at one point.

We were pleasantly tired when we got home and after a nice starchy dinner Kris and I took the star map (that Joce was nice enough to buy) outside to see if we could figure out the sky.

I am sure you can guess how well that went. The map is glow-in-the dark. But the print and images are little, very little. We were sure we had it down until we would look again and then it would be like, "Huh. I thought that was the Southern Cross."

We went to bed.