Magnificient Mount Cook

Returning to the posts after a long break, this blog had gone into hibernation. No more; I have decided. This is a follow-up on the mega road trip we went back in June (yes, this is too late to write).

Driving from Queenstown

On day 4 we bid adieu to our wonderful B&B hosts and the friendly city of Queenstown. We were heading to Christchurch (up north), and visiting Mount Cook en route. Mt Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand and is part of the Mount Cook National park. Sir Edmund Hillary scaled this tall mountain standing at appro 3,500 mts before scaling the Mt Everest.

This became another of our fav places in the South Island trip. When we planned this route, we were expecting to see the mountain from a far off lookout and had no idea what we were going to do. Since there was a time crunch and a challenge to drive a long distance to reach Christchurch, we had not planned more on this adventure.

The road leading to the National park has lake Pukaki (yeah! interesting names for the lakes here) on one side. And we never realised that we were driving along a lake. The map said there was one but we found none. Soon we learnt that because of the cold temp (3 deg C ) the lake was completely covered in fog and we could not see anything!

We reached Mt Cook National park at mid-day. Stunned by the majesty of the mountain ranges, we wanted to explore the place. The visitor center had an adequate map with walkways and routes to reach the Hooker glacier. Though it was winter some of the walks were open and could be trekked. Excited on finding a map (we dint expect to do even a short trek here, specially because it is more famous with the professional mountaineers), we started the short trek of 90 minutes to see the glaciers. Though the trek was hard at some points and we were racing against time, it was worth all the pain. Like one of the route-mates said Don't give up...its worth everything.

Hooker glacier and Mt Cook

The glacier was beautiful, and the water was pure. The sight was a huge welcome, after a dreadful walk! It was similar to have reached the summit in a mountain trek. There is a strange quietness in these kind of places. Very serene and calm, sometimes eerie if you realize you are alone!!! The ears that are used to the traffic and general bustling noises find even the quietness eerie, ha ha....strange.

Stunned by the beauty and again after some patting backs for having made this trip, started the walk back to the visitor center for refreshments.

At the visitor center, we were tempted to see a 3D movie on Mt Cook and a show on our galaxy/solar system. We went ahead to view the films and ended up behind schedule big time!

We regretted badly for not having booked a room at the National park. Regretted that we will not be waking up the next morn to see the snow mountains the first thing!! Sigh sigh........with a heavy heart, started towards Christchurch.

This drive was a very difficult one. There were winding roads all along the route, and we were looking forward for the journey to end. Making a wrong call of driving in the night through huge forests, in icy winter did not prove fatal. We reached Christchurch safely and, Ravi and me cant agree more that it was a horrible drive.

Continued in the next post.........