Weekend Five: Mt. Cook

This may have possibly been my favorite weekend so far. It was very different from what we’ve done in the past weekends. We saw some amazing views and walked some great trails. We had spectacular weather, which made it even more enjoyable. Miranda’s mom arrived in New Zealand Friday morning so she stayed back and enjoyed a weekend with her. David, Laura and I decided to drive about 3 hours to Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand.

We left Alex at about 5 Friday evening. Several weekends ago, David had gone to Twizel, a town just down the mountain from Mt. Cook. The weather wasn’t the best for him and he wasn’t able to make it up to the mountain. He had eaten at a pizza place that he insisted we had to try. We stopped in Twizel. It was delicious gourmet pizza. Laura and I had half meat lovers, salami, sausage and bacon with bbq sauce drizzled over it and half chicken, cream cheese, cashew, apricot. It had gotten dark by then, but we still had to drive another hour up the road to the village in Mt. Cook. Roads in New Zealand do not have streetlights. I was pretty nervous but they have markers on the side of the road to tell which way to go. I was surprised how easy it actually was. There was no traffic, which made it much easier. We learned the hard way that NZ rabbits are much more active at night. By the time we got to our backpacker we had hit a bird at 2 rabbits. I was not about to swerve on the already curvy roads to miss the rabbits. It was quite the experience.

Tallest peak of Mt. Cook in the center

We arrived to find our backpacker was more of a resort. Most backpackers I’ve seen are small house-like hotels. This was a huge hotel, with a bar, projector screen for tv, a room to watch movies and a computer lab. Backpackers usually have separate shower accommodations; we actually had our own bathroom, just like a hotel. There were 2 bunk beds in our room. We were lucky and didn’t have to share our 4th bunk. The first night, we enjoyed a few drinks, people watched and enjoyed music videos. The package deal we purchased included 2 nights stay, a glacier explorer guided boat tour, internet, and a free meal and drink. We called it an early night so we could get up in the morning for the trip.

The next morning, we got ready. It was an amazing day, not a cloud in the sky! The tour left at 10am. We took a short bus ride; from there we walked about 30 minutes to the Tasman lake. It was a small lake at the base of the glacier. The lake began to form in 1973 as the Tasman Glacier continued its natural retreat. It began as a small puddle and significantly grew during the 1980’s. In the lake were amazing icebergs that had broken off the glacier. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but from the informational booklet and the guide, I learned quite a bit about the formation of glaciers and icebergs. The valley we were in was actually formed by a glacier 18 million years ago. It melted away and left the beautiful landscape.

The Tasman Glacier

I will try my best to describe how the Tasman Glacier is formed. A glacier always begins with a Neve, the accumulation zone, when snow falls it is collected in the Neve. The never receives between 50-80 meters of snow annually. The snow is compacted down under it’s own weight to form about 7 meters of glacial ice. Glaciers are always moving. It will move from the Neve about 17km. It then hits the base of Mt. Cook that makes it take a sharp left for another 10 km until it reaches the Tasman lake. The area that we were able to see at the lake was called the Mantle, which rock, debris and soil accumulated. I had imagined this beautiful white/blue ice. The guide said the rock and debris acted like a sun screen that prevented the ice from melting too fast because it was now located in the melt line, the altitude at which the temperature is warmer. The icebergs seen in the lake are ice carvings that have fallen off the glacier. The man said there were quite a few in the lake because of the Christchurch earthquake. The icebergs are always changing depending on the wind. The man said he could leave for lunch and the glacier could be all moved from before lunch. The grey milky color of the lake is because the glacier flour (small rock that has been crushed from the ice) is in the lake always being moved around from the glaciers. Snow falling in the Neve takes approximately 300 years to move its way through the glacier and eventually end up in the lake. Meaning the icebergs in the lake began as snow more than 300 years ago! It was amazing to get to see, touch, even eat an iceberg, from a glacier up close!

After the trip we had lunch. We brought stuff to make pb and j’s. After our lunch, we decided to walk a trail. We choose Hooker valley, a popular trail among the tourist. It was a 5 mile hike to a glacier lake, near the base of Mt. Cook. It was a very rocky path. The path had amazing views. It was a fairly easy trail, but we were exhausted when we were finished. At the end of the trail we had a great view of Mt. Cook’s tallest peak. It was started to get dark so we decided to head back. My camera died half way through the walk, I will upload Laura’s pictures and make sure to share them.

We went back to the backpacker and rested for a bit. We then had dinner at the restaurant and watched a rugby match. We were so tired from the day we ended up going to bed by 8:30. We planned to get up for another hike in the morning. David choose the Red Tarn path. It said experienced trampers (hikers), we thought we would be just fine. The description failed to mention the whole hike was step after step up the mountain! It was an amazing walk with spectacular views, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say a few curse words along the way. Laura and I decided that if biggest loser can do so many stairs it couldn’t be that hard. The work was well worth the view! We had breath-taking views of the mountain ranges and valleys below. The way down was almost worse than the way up. My ankles were pretty weak. We started counted but gave up at 300. We think there were probably 800-1000 stairs! After the walk, we drove back to Alexandra. Overall, it was an incredible weekend.

A small amount of the thousands of steps we walked.

   

A view from the top.  Mt. Cooks tallest peak is the peak in the middle.

We are starting our last week of teaching. I have no idea where the time has gone! Next Saturday we have an overnight cruise booked in Milford Sound. The boat will leave at 4pm and take us out in the sounds. We will be able to take kayaks out. My teacher said when she did it they watched penguins swim into the shore. Hopefully the weather cooperates. Since we are starting our 2 week vacation, we are planning to spend 3-4 days in the Fiordlands (national park). We’ll then come back to Alexandra and hope to do some day trips to towns around the area. A nearby town has a huge wine and food festival Easter Sunday we were told we can’t miss. The last week of our vacation we are hoping to drive up the west coast, travel over to Christchurch and back down to Alex. We will come back to school for the first 2 days of the term before flying out the 4th of May. I will keep updating as much as possible. Thanks for reading!