Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park

Our next few stops were all over the map, since, as we mentioned in the last post, our travel plan had gradually turned into simply chasing the sunshine. The home to the highest peak in NZ - Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park (Aoraki is the Maori name) - had rain in the forecast everyday for upwards of two weeks at a time, so as soon as we saw a couple day break in the rain, we hurried up there. Some of our favorites from Aoraki / Mount Cook include:

Hooker Valley Track

This trail meandered through Hooker Valley, snowy mountains surrounding the trail on every side, ultimately ending with an epic view of Mount Cook in the distance and Hooker Lake sitting at its base. Since this trail is pretty easy and the views are so incredible, it gets pretty crowded. The day we hiked it, it was absurdly windy, but the visibility was pretty good…until we got to the end. Approaching Hooker Lake, we saw Hooker Glacier, the base of Mount Cook, and the surrounding mountains which were beautifully illuminated, but unfortunately, Mount Cook’s peak was clouded over. Because we enjoyed the hike so much and had hopes that the visibility might improve, we returned early the next morning to it again. Unfortunately, the weather was worse the following day! We were pelted with hail as we trekked to the viewpoint and although the scenery was, yet again, absolutely beautiful, the peaks were all even more clouded over. At least we got an early start that day so we had the trail to ourselves!

Sealy Tarns Track

We hiked this trail during the afternoon following our first take at the Hooker Valley Track. What it lacked in length, it made up for in elevation! Essentially the whole trail was comprised of steep, poorly constructed stairs that we tiredly trudged up. The weather had definitely gotten worse throughout the day, but we were lucky to have good visibility both on the way up and at the top. The views from the top were similar to those of the morning’s hike, Mueller Lake and down Hooker Valley, but it was really cool to have a birds-eye view of it all, compared to walking through it. Up at the top, the wind was brutal and it had also started to snow, so we enjoyed the views quickly and then scurried down. The way down was totally exposed and it was precipitating pretty hard - rain, hail, and snow all being blown into our faces by the relentless wind. We had to hide in the brush a few times to wait out the worst of the gusts! We made it down safely, but felt for everyone who we passed who were just starting the hike.

Glacial Lakes - Tasman, Pukaki, Tekapo

The glacial lakes surrounding Mount Cook, in south-central Canterbury, are stunning. Their bright blue color seemed to change day to day and even hour to hour as the light changed with clouds rolling through, offering a wide assortment of blue and turquoise shades. We explored a few - Tasman Lake, Lake Pukaki, and Lake Tekapo (who decides if lake comes first in the name anyway?). There was even a great campsite on Lake Pukaki where we could park on a big hill overlooking the lake for the night. We camped there a few nights and were lucky not to blow away as the wind was about as rough as we’d experienced! There were some really friendly families at this site - one big family from Singapore that was vacationing together in huge RVs took pity on us one evening as we very slowly cooked a meager stir fry in the howling wind and gave us some of their dinner. Lamb, spicy cashew chicken, and a cheese roll, it was delicious! They couldn’t believe that we were living in such a small van. We gave them the grand tour which lasted all of 30 seconds.

For more pictures, check out our Instagram, from_oakland_to_auckland, also linked below!