Mount Cook
It is only an hour from Tekapo to Mount Cook and the drive was absolutely beautiful. We passed by the turquoise waters of Lake Pukaki and could see Mount Cook in the distance. Mount Cook is New Zealand's tallest mountain with a height of 12,316 feet.
We started the day by hiking the 6-mile Hooker Valley Track. The route travels through the Hooker Valley and ends at the Hooker Valley Glacial Lake with views of Mount Cook.
Mount Cook
The gray color of the lake is caused by fine-grained particles of rock from glacial erosion which flow into the lake. Because the particles are very small, they become suspended in the water and cause the water to appear cloudy. This is also known as "rock flour" or "glacial flour".
From the Hooker Valley, we drove ten minutes to the Blue Lakes and Tasman Glacier Walk. This was a short hike with viewpoints of the Tasman Lake, Tasman River and glacier.
2,670 square miles of this region was declared the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve in 2012. It is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and only one of eight Dark Sky Reserves in the world. With strictly controlled light pollution, this region is one of the best places in the world to view the stars. Alex and I are staying in Twizel, a small town 35-minutes from Mount Cook. Our Airbnb is off the main path and we were able to stargaze right in our own backyard. We lucked out our first night here with perfectly clear skies and amazing stargazing! The stars were so bright and we could even see the Milky Way. It's funny because some constellations here are UPSIDE DOWN from what we see in the Northern Hemisphere.
Unfortunately, Alex has come down with a bit of a cold, so we slowed our pace on Friday. We drove to Lake Pukaki and attempted to hike the Pukaki Kettle Hole Track. Not sure what our problem was, but we could not locate the hiking trail for the life of us and ended up just tramping around towards Lake Pukaki and it paid off big time!! We wound up getting beautiful views of both Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook. Similar to Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki gets its beautiful turquoise color from suspended particles in the water. These particles are formed by the grinding of rock as snow melts off the surrounding mountains and fills the lake.
Our final stop for the morning was to the Pukaki Boulders. This short hike up a hill lead us to several large boulders which were left behind by a huge glacier that dominated the area over 12,000 years ago.
Our lonely car parked on the side of the road!
While Alex rested at the Airbnb, I walked into town and grabbed coffee at Hydro Cafe and sat for a couple of hours reading my book. It was a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon and felt great to sit and relax for a little while.
When we woke on Saturday, Alex had lost his voice - needless to say it was a very quiet day over here! : ) In an effort to get Alex to relax and hopefully feel better soon, we decided to stay around the Airbnb. We finished up some laundry and worked on some itinerary planning. It was a sunny day and we decided to utilize the Airbnb's grill and cooked up some chicken drumsticks with sweet chili sauce. Yum!
In the evening, we drove out to the visitor center to see Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook once more before we leave for Cromwell tomorrow. I can tell you now, this view does not get old.
