South Island Itinerary: Mount Cook and Hooker Glacier

On our second day in Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park, we hiked the longer Hooker Valley Track, which took us through a beautiful, almost enchanted glacial valley with mountain peaks towering over us on either side and lots of snow and fog. The peak of Aoraki stayed stubbornly shrouded in cloud, but it was still majestic in its mystery. The end point was a lake full of bits of ice, and people were dumbly trying to stand on it to see if it would hold their weight (yes, I might have tried it a bit too - the thrill and sound of cracking ice are too cool!). We had to cross several swing bridges there and back, and the rain started up just as we made it back to the parking lot - we were quite lucky in the weather while here! This walk and photos will definitely be a long time in memory.

You can just make out the glaciers

weta bug near the restrooms

Gorgeous mirror effect in the lake

South Island Itinerary: Mount Cook and Tasman Glacier

This was my second trip to Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park this year, and it has become one of my favorite places in New Zealand, easily. There are so many glaciers and mountain peaks and you're nestled in the valley surrounded by them. Plus, driving up Lake Pukaki to get there is great in itself because it is such a beautiful lake with stunning blue water.

The first day we did a short hike to the Tasman Glacier overlook (in winter, you can't go on the lake). It's surprising how much dirt settles on top of the glacier, because your first thought of a glacier is usually ice, not mounds of dirt obscuring it. But the icebergs floating in the terminal lake are less dirty and have cool patterns of dirt on them as they flip and bump and dissolve.

These ducks were on some smaller lakes on the hike to the overlook.
They are called "Blue Lakes" but the algae has turned them green.

Close-up of the Tasman Glacier. So dirty!

Tour helicopter making the rounds

Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park

Although Aoraki/Mount Cook was a no-show because it was encased in fog/clouds the whole two days we visited, it was a nice trip to the mountains and a good chance for me to visit for the first time one of the most popular tourist areas on the South Island. It was around four hours to drive from Christchurch to Mount Cook with some beautiful views of the country along the way. We stayed at the Glentanner Park Centre which is just outside of the park, and it has good views of the mountains and is close to the lake which you can walk to. There were also chickens and lots of bunnies around.

We drove into Mount Cook Village for dinner since there isn't anything else around, and the food was quite tasty at the Old Mountaineers' Cafe, Bar and Restaurant. The next day, because of the weather (or not enough people for them to make up a group), the tour company cancelled our morning tour, so we had to wait around to see if any of the afternoon ones would go through. Thankfully, a later one did so we were able to go out on a boat on the Tasman Glacier terminal lake. It was a bit more extreme than it sounded like online (whoops!), but it was so much fun to get right up to icebergs that had broken off from the glacier that day or the previous day and touch them and then hold a chunk that the tour guide broke off for us. The shades of blue are so gorgeous! My camera kept getting wet but I got a few good shots. We went really fast on the way to and from getting closer to the glacier itself, and so we got soaked on the way back because of the wind and going against the water flow. At the end, we almost saw one of the big icebergs flip, but it got stuck on the bottom of the lake -- we did see it start to tip and rocks and debris falling off of it as it moved. There were lots of wildflowers along the path as well, so all in all a fun experience nestled in the mountains.