Day 4 - Seeing icebergs and mountains

Today we made our way down to Aoraki/ Mount Cook National Park.

Starting location: Lake Tekapo

Distance: 96km

Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Driving by Lake Pukaki

The drive to Mount Cook National Park is absolutely gorgeous as it takes you along beautiful blue Lake Pukaki.

Here some fun facts about Lake Pukaki.

When the glaciers move through the valleys they grind and crush the sandstones creating fine powders that turns the water into a milky white. As the water flows down to Lake Pukaki, heavy rocks fall to the ground while the finer rocks float. As the sun shines on the light, the colour blue is refracted off the tiny rock flour, creating that gorgeous blue.

There are several stops along the drive to Mount Cook, I highly recommend stopping to admire the views.

Tasman Glacier and Icebergs
Time: 30 minutes (one-way)

First thing we saw when we arrived at the Mount Cook area were the ice bergs and glaciers.

There are several ways to see the glaciers, we decided to join a small tour that took us on to the waters to get up close and personal with the ice bergs. The Glacier Explorers tour was really cool, we started at the Hermitage Hotel, and were driven to the bus stop up the Tasman Valley. From here we walked 30 minutes to Terminal lake. The walk itself isn't too bad, with some rocky, gravel terrain along the way, I recommend wearing comfy shoes and pack water. The walk is out in the open, there is very little shade/coverage. I'd recommend carrying a bottle of water with you.

Getting up close and personal to the ice bergs.

 The gorgeous Tasman Glacier.

Hooker Valley Track
Time: 3 hours return
You can choose to stop at the first swing bridge or 2nd swing bridge and return if the walk is too long.

The Hooker Valley Track is one of the more popular trails here and I agree. The views you get are simply amazing. The walk itself is mainly in the open air, there is little shade and after the second bridge there is quite a few steps to tackle. Take a bottle of water with you, if your bottle is empty, there is a restroom area at the car park which includes a small kitchen area. You can fill up your bottle here.

As you get deeper into the walk, the wind becomes quite strong, take a light jacket just in case.

I really like this walk and highly recommend it for those who are finding it hard to decide which short hikes to take while at Mount Cook.

For other hikes, this site was a good reference: Mount Cook Short Hikes

Here are some of the gorgeous views you can encounter on this amazing walk.

One of the look-outs - Mueller Lake look out

 Second swing bridge.

Ending the hike with a amazing views at the Hooker Glacier Terminal Lake.

I loved the Mount Cook area and can't wait to come back and see more of it.

Finishing the post with another sunset photo at Lake Tekapo!