Blogs from Mount Cook National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 10

Mount Cook 17th - 18th February The drive from Lake Tekapo to Mount Cook was spectacular. We stopped at the edge of Lake Puketi where we could see Mount Cook from across the turquoise waters of the lake. Driving up along the lake towards the mountain we could see Mount Sefton with its impressive ice and snow. We camped on a DOC site with Mount Sefton towering in the background. I don't think we've stayed in a place with quite such a dramatic view as this. That afternoon we all walked up towards Mount Sefton and its glacier lake, on the kea track. We didn't see any keas (the naughty parrots that steal anything that's not nailed down, including the rubber on car windscreens!), but we heard them higher up. At the top of the track ... read more

March 10th Since leaving Dunedin we had some lovely weather - the first sustained period of lovely warm sunny days since our first week. David is now wearing shorts and we have hopefully put away our thicker jumpers. We’ve seen the big boulders on Moeraki beach and been to Twizel. It’s the starting point to go up the approach to Aoraki/Mount Cook. We were told in Twizel - in glorious sunshine - that there would probably be no flights as the weather was very windy up in the mountains - and sure enough as we drove up the clouds came down and the rain started. We never got to see Mount Cook - just tantalizing glimpses of ‘Nearly’ the top through the clouds. The forecast was for even worse weather the next day, so after a ... read more

Woke up to a nice sunny day, fingers crossed it stays like this! After breakfast we went to the visitor centre here to look at the walks, but when we got there the car smelt like it was burning. l..we had to wait for it to cool down before we could look under the bonnet. Also it hadn’t started very well today...not sure what is wrong. There were a few walks to choose from, from an hour to three of four hour walks. We chose the longest one as it sounded more interesting and it went over two suspended bridges, to the edge of the glacier and the lake. The weather was getting warmer and you could walk in a t-shirt. We had a look at the car, one of the clips had come loose so ... read more

Pics to follow when we reach civilisation!! Well - camped in our van alongside the Pukaki Lake looking up towards Mount Cook - amazing sunset and sunrise. Words cannot describe the scenery here - it is absolutely stunning. Water is a vivid turquoise (no exageration!) - with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. And yet it is so warm - daytime temperatures average 23-28 with sun and occasional cloud. The wind is north-westerly - which in NZ means warm (opposite of UK!). Met yet more Kea's while having a morning cup of tea at the Hermitage Hotel while awaiting departure of our glacier boat cruise. After a 10 minute coach ride, we walked for approximately 20 minutes to the edge of the Tasman lake - complete with icebergs - quite surreal when standing in sun with a ... read more

The west coast …. Our first destination on the west coast was Westport; a large town about 3 hours drive from Motueka. On our way we visited the Buller Gorge which is home to New Zealand’s longest swing bridge. What they don’t tell you, is that it’s about 6 inches wide at the bottom and 2 foot wide at it’s widest point. It makes for hilarious sights, people sort of shuffling across the bridge not to mention when two people going the opposite direction cross paths. We had the pleasure of encountering a woman who was afraid of both heights and bridges. (Yes we also wondered why the hell she was putting herself through it.) She was shaking with nerves and when there was still about 10 feet between her and us she was already anticipating ... read more