Day 5 and 6 - Mt Cook

Mt Cook - the highest mountain in New Zealand. After spending a day at Lake Tekapo, we expected the same good weather in the coming days. Of course, things always happened not in our expectation. During the night we stayed at Lake Tekapo, there was rain and thick cloud developed in this region.

On the fifth day morning, we got up early as usual, then self check-out from Tailor-made-backpackers and waited for the bus, which was provided by Cook Connection, to Mt Cook. The transptation by Cook Connection was a package, which included two trips. The first one was from Lake Tekapo to Mt Cook YHA, and the return trip was from Mt Cook YHA to Twizel, and we would get off at Lake Tekapo again on the second trip. The total cost was NZD120 for two.

I thought Cook Connection is a small, family business. The driver was nice and provided a lot of information on the way to Mt Cook. He also told us that he was in the movie of the Lord of the Rings, who acted as Orcs(?)! By the way, the bus would stop on the way for us to take some photos.

That day was a bad day for photo taking, because the rain was quite heavy and dense. At the time we arrived Mt Cook, the rain was so heavy that we should not go out to have a walk!

We stayed at the YHA at Mt Cook, and we would spent two nights with other six people. More importantly, the date we arrived was our marriage anniversary, so I would expect there was some noise made by my wife...Anyway, the 8 people room cost us NZD72. There is not many options in Mt Cook accomodation, either very expensive or not that cozy, so book early...

We planned to have see Mt Cook glacier and we would go there through Hooker Valley Track. This is an easy trail, no hiking or trekking experience is required. As the first day weather was so bad that we could not go, we spent our time at the Mt Cook Museum, The Old Mountaineer's Cafe and The Hermitage Hotel.

After some sitting, sighing, and coffee drinking, we went back YHA hostel and made our dinner. The pantry at YHA was spacious and with a lot of equipments. Backpackers, couples and families would come and made their dinner!

After the dinner, we stayed at the common room in the hostel and watched a movie with other travelers. All of us were stuck at the hostel because of the weather.

As we would leave next day, I was deteremined to get up early to see whether we had chance to see glacier on next day morning. Luckily, the weather was getting better and the rain stopped briefly in the morning. So we caught this chance and went to the Hooker Valley Track.

Hooker Valley Track is at the north side of The Hermitage.

The weather seems getting better south of Mt Cook.

Beautiful weeds! And you could see the thick cloud around Mt Cook, some rain patches too!

The first swing bridge on this track. The lake on the left is not Hooker Lake.

This one is the most stable swing bridge on the way to Hooker Lake.

On the way to Hooker Valley, the trail is flat and easy.

The second swing bridge, this one is long and very windy when you walk on it. The water below running very fast!!!

Took a photo before crossing!

After crossing the second bridge, the path would become more winding and with many big rocks. The cloud was getting thicker when we moved on.

I think this area will become flooded during rain season, so they build a wood platform on it.

Finally! We could see the glacier from the other end of Hooker Lake. It was very windy here!

Could you spot Mt Cook???

After staying for a while, we started to going back. This side weather looked great!

I like this picture very much! The mountain with snow is Sealy Range.

Another picture looking back to Mt Cook plain.