“Cook”ing up a treat
After leaving the Catlins we headed inland to Mount Cook National Park. The National Park houses 19 peaks over 3,000m and 40% is covered by glaciers. Mount Cook (the English name given in honour of Captain James Cook) or Aoraki (teh Maori name meaning “Cloud Piercer”) is New Zealands highest peak at 3,754m which is 10m shorter than it was in early 1991 when its peak fell off.
The drive to Mount Cook village is spectacular with photo opportunities all around. On arrival in the town we visited the Department of Conservation information centre to find a walk that was suitable for us and for further information on weather conditions because although the sun was shining and there was not a cloud to be seen we have been constantly reminded that the weather can change very quickly. The weather coupled with what we are told to be a highly technical climb is attributed to the high death toll of those attempting to climb the mountain. Mount Cook has claimed 214 lives in just over a century. The DOC visitors centre holds a memorial book which lists those who have not returned from the mountain.
The walk we embarked upon was a 4 hour walk along the Hooker valley floor across two swing-bridges to a final viewpoint of Mount Cook and the Tasman Glacier running up its side. Whilst at the final viewpoint we rested for a while to enjoy our surroundings when we heard a “small” avalanche. Chris was quick enough to capture the scene on camera (we will upload the photos in the next few days). On our return we heard the sound of what we assume to be a much larger avalanche coming from the other side of the mountains.
After leaving the National Park we drove via Lake Tekapo across to Christchurch to spend the last few days of our New Zealand tour. Our first night in Christchurch we treated ourselves to a homemade dinner of Steak and roast vegetables…..adding roast Pumpkin into the mix (thanks for the introduction Sheila! – mum please note for our return), cheesecake and red wine – every mouthful was savoured. Sadly we are now back on our diet of pasta and sauce but looking forward to some serious seafood in Fiji.
We leave for Fiji on the 16th (having brought our flight forward by 2 days) but will be blogging before then with our impressions of Christchurch and our parting thoughts of New Zealand.
Tags: Christchurch, New Zealand, NZ
Chris and Charl
Take it you are going to cook some for us….
Ah! those rosy cheeks – and Charlotte’s look very lovely as well!! All sounds fantastic and makes us want to be in NZ asap!! Great photos that have recently helped us to feel cool in the UK heatwave. Still, Fiji and sweat yet to come for you poor sods!! Enjoy!!
P & M xx
Hi Pete and Margie,
Good to hear from you, hope you are both well and enjoying the summertime!
Hopefully the rosy cheeks in our next photos will be a healthy colour from the Fijian sun!
Take it easy, Chris and Charlotte