Blogs from Mount Cook National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 4

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park May 26th 2012

So... it's me again! I told a bit of a porky in my last blog. I did not in fact hike on Fox Glacier, it was on Franz Josef Glacier. Woops. But it was beautiful, I got the helicopter up to the top of the glacier mid morning and we walked around on the ice with crampons strapped to our boots for a couple of hours before coming back down. We also walked through (or rather slipped through in my case) some ice caves and walked over to the waterfall which is where all the liquid run-off from the Glacier descends the mountain. Included with the hike was a free trip to the local glacial hot pools so I took advantage of that by sitting in a pool that was 36 degrees for most of the ... read more

Christ Church to Mount Cook 2

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park May 24th 2012

Mount Cook Glacier

WhitleyBayDownUnder

One photo identy correction and a couple of extra photos, as promised. (Short of wifi time last time)... read more

CHRISTCHURCH TO MOUNT COOK

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park May 20th 2012

Mount Cook

WhitleyBayDownUnder

CHRISTCHURCH TO MOUNT COOK We have limited WIFI access at the moment so just a few photos. (More to follow later) We had booked a two berth motor-home with shower and toilet, to allow us the flexibility to freedom camp in the wilds, if an opportunity arose. It turned out to be much bigger than I expected, but that just added to the challenge of driving in New Zealand. Our intention was to head south on the flatter east side of the island, and then move across to the more picturesque west. The distant mountains provided a bit of a picturesque backdrop, but other than that, the countryside was flat farmland and realistically had little special to offer in terms of scenery – we could have been in many places in the UK. The offer of ... read more

From the highest peak to crumbling Christchurch, Farewell NZ

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park May 16th 2012

Road to Mt Cook

Cupla Nomad

Mount Cook We drove along the road towards Mount Cook stopping at Lake Tekapo for a brief look. There was a cute little church right at the lakes edge that was fab! We finally arrived in Mount Cook, which is NZ’s largest mountain, with the view of it and the surrounding mountains literally astonishing. We meandered along the road just in time to see the sun slide down slowly behind the white tipped mountains and we were excited that it was so big! There is no doubt about it we were impressed. We took a drive around the village there – a strange place that blends into the background because all the buildings are painted in a camouflage colour. It’s cool that it doesn’t interrupt the look of the valley in any way. At this point ... read more

Lake Tekapo Mt Cook

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park April 24th 2012

Dunedin

Maranade

Well the show has moved on and Crowded House packed up and we set out on Sunday 22nd for Mt Cook. After replenishing the stores and using the dump station and refueling at Lake Tekapo we headed north west along the stunning Lake Pukaki which, along with 2 other major lakes in the centre of this area produces hydro electricity. The roads are so good in this part of NZ that it is hard not to speed and we enjoyed great lengths of time with not anotrher car in sight. It is now fairly quiet tourist wise and we have had no trouble getting in any parks. The weather is beautiful, warm during the day but very cold at night and we now have the extra blanket and heater on at night. Approaching Mt Cook was ... read more

NEW ZEALAND #3 Wanaka to Akaroa via Aoraki

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park April 20th 2012

Milford Walk

Rasso

Our time in New Zealand was spectacular - 18 days and not one without sunshine! "Aoraki" = 'the cloud piercer' (Mt Cook) We saw many distant views of this peak, towering above the cloud layers - well named by the Maoris. Hope you enjoy the final selection of photos. The panorama above is Lake Wanaka from Roy's Peak, featured in the following photos. Double click on the first slide to view the show at full size. Cheers from Jan & Garry... read more

Mt. Cook & Queenstown

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park April 8th 2012

Lake Tekapo

Teesside Travellers

8th April ’12 Mt. Cook Another culture shock is the fact that you have to check out of hotels/motels/hostels by 10 am here – we have now to rethink the way we live our days, we are used to staying up until 12 and then getting up when we want and 12pm check outs. Today we head to Mt. Cook the highest mountain in New Zealand and Howard is already past himself with excitement at the prospect of the snow-capped peaks! I expect the camera to take a real hammering!! The drive was lovely, winding through valleys and mountains, past beautiful turquoise blue glacier lakes. The mountain ranges just got higher and higher the further we travelled and when we got our first glimpses of ‘the snow-capped peaks’ Howard had the biggest grin on his face! ... read more

Mt Cook

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park February 22nd 2012

View from Mueller hut

SRMUSA

Here are a few photos from our trip to Mt Cook National Park. Max and I hiked up to the Mueller Hut near Mt Oliver and stayed the night. -sean... read more

How to travel 20km in 6 hours in a broad bean

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park February 7th 2012

Dels Grown up Gap Year

This morning I woke up in Mount Cook. This evening I'll be 20km away, though I will have driven for 6 hours and covered nearly 500km in the car. How so? Well, I'm driving to Franz Josef, home of the glacier, to do a spot of ice climbing, however there's a bloody big mountain range blocking my most direct route. OK, OK, I could put on the crampons and hike over the mountains but a) it may be a shorter distance but it'll take me a lot longer and b) I couldn't leave the bean behind! So an epic trek to end up just the other side of the big mountain is ahead. Splendid... The good news in all of this is that the route is beautiful. To start with, I had to drive past two ... read more

Dora the explorer!

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Mount Cook National Park February 6th 2012

Dels Grown up Gap Year

A long-ish drive today, from Dunedin to Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain. 4 hours estimated driving time, and another 300+kms added to the poor little Vitz’s engine. It’s doing remarkably well, the green meanie. Bombing around the country without a care in the world, with only a bit of tuning required to the automatic gearbox to make it almost as good as new. By the time I drop it off in Auckland, they may well have to retire it, such is the distance I’m racking up. And the bank manager may need to extend my overdraft for the amount of fuel required to drive such ridiculous distances… Still, it started off well today – after a fairly ropey night’s sleep, due to the French heavy breather in the bunk above me (note not a snorer, ... read more

Brief history of New Zealand

The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year...more history

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