Blogs from Mount Cook National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

After a nice (but early - clock in the bedroom was half an hour fast!!!) breakfast,we set off to do the Hooker Valley Walk. Took us 3.5 hours in total with several stops for photos,visit to Freda's Rock,the Alpine Memorial,elevenses! Some easy walking,some hard walking,2 swing bridges (I thought they'd be like the Tower of London - wrong; a lot more bouncy than that (yes that sort of swing!!). Rewarded at the destination with our first sight of a glacial lake with,like,icebergs floating in it (well small icebergs!) at the foot of the Hooker Glacier. Another (shorter) walk this afternoon,probably the Tasman Glacier one. Yes,did that - only 1.5 hours but some rough bits.. And it is very warm (about 22c) - we really have been blessed with good weather: Francis came here and didn't see ... read more

Hi,folks. At Mount Cook now - amazing, But more about that later! First yesterday's blog. Travelled from Blenheim to Christchurch. Some incredible scenery but Christchurch was very sad and depressing: virtually the whole of the city centre is still inaccessible. Only took one photo out of sympathy for the Christchurchians (and not of a broken building)! Went to mass in St. Mary's in Blenheim - great "country" choir. Saw penguins and seals on the way dow. Great weather,if a bit windy. Accommodation in Christchurch was the worst yet - not terrible but very "motellish". As I said already,walking into the city centre was a nightmare: roads blocked off,buildings destroyed/damaged. In the end we found our way to North Hagley Park which contained the Botanic Gardens - still a great sight! Mt. Cook got us back on ... read more

MT COOK!!! You are driving up this vast open plain between mountains and then BAM, the tallest mountain in the country. Lake Pukaki is a steely, blue lake on the way up. Then you are surrounded by huge, glacier covered mountains. We hiked up a valley and saw the Hooker Glacier (named after Rebecca, clearly). We layed on the lake and basked in the sunshine. We then decided to go up a mountain side to get a better perspective on the whole valley. We hiked up to some tarns (ponds) and were greated by a friendly Kea (Three words: giant alpine parrot. Not kidding. Look it up.). The next day we hiked up next to the Tasman Glacier, which is the largest glacier in Nwe Zealand. Pretty crazy stuff. It was so huge and everything so ... read more

Mount Cook Op de baan van Lake Tekapo (krinkel de winkel door o zo mooie meertjes en bergen) richting Mount Cook , moesten we opeens een 'private road' (privé straat) door. De private road bleek van de Salmon Farmers te zijn. We gingen es piepen. Maar je moest ervoor betalen om die vissen te zien. Niet dus! Jan had wel zin in een stukje zalm, en als zijn ontbijt kreeg hij een flink stuk rauwe zalm – bijna een halve kilo-. De zalmboerderij was wel één van de beste ter wereld. Er kwamen geen chemicaliën in voor , geen metalen of antibiotica. (voor de kenners: Alpine Salmon is Pure King Salmon. De vis wordt ook gekweekt in puur gletsjer ijswater uit de Alpen van Nieuw-Zeeland. Er waren al Japanners die het hem voor deden (maar ... read more

Arrived Queenstown at approx 3:30 pm We'd luckily got the earlier bus out of Te Anau so we had plenty of time to arrange the next days adventures. We duly booked the 'Skippers Canyon Jet Boat Safari' for the morning leaving us the afternoon free in case the weatther cleared and we fancied a scenic flight over Milford Sound. Having done all that we wandered through Queenstown until a little known, but highly recommended restaurant caled 'The Bunker' opened at 6 pm (thanks to Josie Frosell for the tip). We arrived in time to make a booking for 6:30 so as we had half an hour to kill we made our way upstairs to the cocktail bar where Chris (from Pembury, Kent) was waiting to serve us. One splendid G&T later we made our way down ... read more