Day One: Driving from Lake Tekapo we reached the south end of Lake Pukaki just as the clouds cleared over Mt. Cook, or Aoraki as it is known by the Maori. Once again the colour of glacial lake was crazy! New Zealand's tallest mountain looked colossal as it towered over the surrounding peaks.
Purple thistles lined the roadside as we approached Mt. Cook village.
The village was huddled under the snow & ice covered slopes of Mt. Sefton and regularly rumbled to the sound of ice falls high above.
Making the most of the good weather we set out on a 3 hour walk up the Hooker Valley to the base of Mt. Cook. The views along the way made us feel very small.
We had several meltwater rivers to cross with the aid of bouncy rope bridges.
Reaching the end of the trail, we arrived at a meltwater lake at the toe of the Hooker Glacier, one of the many glaciers that creep down the mighty mountains flanks. The lake was surrounded by imposing peaks and had icebergs the size of cars floating across it's surface.
Mel thought the summit of Aoraki looked like a giant chocolate cake dusted with icing... Dave suspected that with all this walking Mel just needed some cake!
The pristine whiteness of the snow and ice was beyond anything we have seen on our trip!
As we set up camp and sat down for dinner, the sun set over the high peak turning the summit pink. It was very beautiful!
Day two: Once again glorious sunshine (sorry to rub it in folks back home). We got ourselves ready for another beast of a walk. Muller Hut was a 6-8 hour grind up a very steep slope which apparently provided unparalleled views of the surrounding area... sounded good to us!
As we got stuck in, the views in both directions were stunning.
Mt. Cook had an awesome cloud formation (like a flattened mushroom) sitting over the summit.
The lake and valley below had been our path the previous day; it now looked a long way away.
Once again we had a bit of a scramble and some boulder hopping to reach the saddle, before making our way along the ridge to the hut.
Reaching the saddle the views just opened up before us:
There were glaciers everywhere!
We had a trudge through the snow to reach the hut for lunch.
Another incredible cloud formation just hung along the ridge, not moving at all despite the strong winds picking up as the afternoon wore on.
The snow field was hard work to cross, with some of our footsteps falling through softer snow up to our knees.
All the while the scenery was incredible.
After lunch, before we headed down, Dave sized himself up against Mt. Cook... He's got a bit of growing to do!
As we descended the steep slopes the camera went away so we could concentrate on the job in hand, after all it was hard enough watching your step with views like this!
We were so lucky with the weather to be able to get up this high (1900m) and with the views we got this has now overtaken Avalanche Peak as our favourite one day tramp!
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