Blue skies and snow - Mt. Cook is beautiful

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I left Christchurch going south west, right into the heart of the Southern Alps, to Mt. Cook. I took the scenic route that goes through Mt. Hutt - that’s the ski area closest to Christchurch. The route is absolutely amazingly gorgeous. I drive and I feel like I am inside a postcard. I couldn’t take pictures because it would require a panoramic lense - the beauty is just all around me. It’s an amazing combination of light green fields, darker green where the trees begin on the mountain slopes, then black and white (rocks and snow) and then blue for the surprising blue skies. Yes, it is winter here but I’ve been blessed with beautiful weather, only some single clouds in the sky.
After about 400 km I reach Mt. Cook. It’s probably my toughest driving day - in Australia I did even 500 in one day but that was mostly a straight boring road, here it’s winding and it’s never boring. But who cares if it was tough when I get there in the late afternoon and the light is soft and the views are stunning.
In the summer I had to stay in a cabin in the camping but today there’s no problem to check in into Mt. Cook YHA. It’s warm and cosy inside, and surprisingly there are some people there. For dinner I have dinner I cook Kumara - it’s a very gentle type of sweet potato that I saw only in NZ and I really missed it. I chat with the other people and eventually I ask Marie, a nice Scottish girl, if she wants a lift south. It would be nice to share the ride with someone.
I didn’t think at all about hikes in this visit in NZ, but when I see the good weather and hear some stories, I understand it is possible. So in the morning we walk to Kia Point - a very short walk of less than an hour with even better views on Mt. Cook and the Tasman glacier. I was planning to do that in March but didn’t have the time (well I thought it was longer), am I not lucky to have the opportunity to complete that?

The rest of the day is dedicated to a long drive south, all the way to Te Anau. It’s nice to have Marie with me and we listen to some music she has and I’ve never heard before. We stay in a backpacker in a deer farm (or as I like to call it “bambie farm”). They’re really cute!

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