Here we are again - at the end, at the beginning.
We're back in Auckland, having taken the Qantas island hopper from Christchurch this morning. We're currently sitting in the Koru Club (Air New Zealand business lounge -- yay free wireless!), noshing on the gourmet Kiwi snackage and waiting for our flight to SYD in style. But I get ahead of myself. Let's go back to where last we left you...
The drive north from Fiordlands was smooth and uneventful, if slightly less stunningly beautiful than the previous few driving days. (By which I of course mean that it was only "gorgeous" as opposed to "mind blowing.") We stopped in the little burg of Cromwell, an area known for fruit growing and fruit products, for lunch. There we met an aquaintance of the Simpkins, and played a round of ceremonial Euchre, as you do. Jams and jellies and fresh-fruit ice cream were acquired, then it was on the road again through the Lake Dunstan district, past Twizel, and on up to Mount Cook/Aoraki, New Zealand's highest peak at just over 3700 meters.
Unfortunately, the clouds had gathered once again. The way this has been described in numerous DOC videos is that these weather masses build up significantly over the South Pacific/Antarctic Oceans. The systems move north and east, and the first land mass they encounter (which also happens to have high mountains which help to push the clouds up) is New Zealand's South Island. They smash into the southwestern coast and dump... hence the rainforests and the permanent alpine snowfields.
Needless to say that the expected vista of Mt. Cook and it's brethren high peaks was not revealing itself, and I was disappointed -- we paid the big bucks for the view, you know. ;o) Our lodging was at Glentanner Park, about 15minutes short of the end of the road (dead end
into the mountain/glacier valley), in a Deluxe Cabin (with a toilet in-unit! Woo!). The guy at the check-in desk informed us that the next day the weather was forecasted to be "fine," as they say down here, so we (I) had great hopes of waking up to our vista.
Nope. In the morning, the clouds still lingered. Humph. But, we decided to make the most of it and drove up to Mt. Cook Village at the end of the road. After some perusal of the DOC visitor centre and the other activities available, Travis and I embarked on a walk up the Hooker River Valley, to the terminal face of the Hooker Glacier at the base of Mt. Cook (and here, Travis would like me to make a dirty joke about the "Hooker Glacier." I'll just leave it to your imagination...), while Jerry and Mary Ellen soaked up the views and people watching back at the Hermitage (the swanky hotel in the Village). And encouragingly, the clouds, slowly but surely, began to roll back. As we departed the trailhead, Mt. Sefton (Southeast of Mt. Cook) came gloriously in to view with its magnificent glaciers (Huddleston and... something else I can't remember), backed by clear blue sky.
The walk took about 2 hours one way, crossing over the Hooker River twice on swing bridges, through fields of Mountain Buttercups and Mount Cook Lilies. At the end of the trail we came to the Hooker Lake, with icebergs still floating and calving there from the glacier which sat at its northern edge. We sat for a bit, hoping again that the clouds would clear. But Aoraki still had not revealed itself.
We got about 1/4 of the way back when the cloud finally lifted. Let me tell you Mt. Cook is the king, and you can tell. We joked about it the whole time, but there is a quote about how you can immediately tell you're looking at Mt. Cook, "there is no mistaking it for another," which is funny but true. It has 10000feet of vertical from base (at 2500 ft) to summit (at about 12500 ft). To put that in perspective, the longest base-to-vertical peak in the Colorado Rockies is Pike's Peak, with about 8000, and this has an additional 2000. With a permanent snowfield and several awesome glaciers. This is a mountain that doesn't mess around.
We arrived back at Mt. Cook Village absolutely famished, so we had a yummy dinner of lamb chops and steak at the Old Mountaineers' Cafe (which was, disappointingly, more corporate and with less charm than it sounds). Returning to the cabin exhausted, we fell asleep way
before midnight, but the observation was made that enjoying such awesome creation was a fitting way to end the year.
The next morning (Happy New Year!), we drove up to the village once again and had a viewing of the Sir Edmund Hillary Centre, recently opened at the Hermitage. The museum detailed the history of mountaineering and vacationing at Aoraki/Mt. Cook, but also included a
biographical section on Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to summit Mt. Everest (in 1953). Hillary was a Kiwi himself (didn't know that) and used Mt. Cook as training ground for his Himalayan and Antarctic expeditions (didn't know that either).
Aoraki-ed out, we began the drive back to Christchurch. We lunched in beautiful Lake Tekapo after nearly running out of gas (hahaha... not), and stopped in the lovely village of Geraldine for ice cream and a final bout of NZ souvenier shopping. After arriving at the Christchurch Top 10 (where we were *supposed* to have stayed on Night #1) and whipping up a quick dinner of sausage, rice, and veggies (or as the Kiwis say, "veges"), we hit the heated pool (and waterslide!) to relax before our final nights sleep here.
The Qantas flight this morning from CHC to AKL (you know what those are by now, right?) was very nice, offering views of Abel Tasman (we could see where we hiked/took the water taxi!), plus Tongariro and the other volcanos of the North Island that we didn't get to see. (We didn't catch a glimpse of Mt. Ruapehu who played the part of Mt. Doom in LOTR... rats.)
And that brings us up to date. All is well. We are sad to leave New Zealand, but are already planning our next trip back (so not kidding). And were off to Sydney for three days of Ozzie fun and adventure.
Now I am off to buy some Duty-Free Clinique (w00t!) with our remaining NZ cash (Travis: "funny money").
~amy
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