Mt. Cook Village, South Island, New Zealand
Thursday, October 21, 2010
We drove to Mt. Cook last night and camped at the foot of the mountain range. We went for a drink at the Old Mountaineer's Cafe, a restaurant with a cozy fireplace and vintage photographs. They have a comment book that Shane signed 6 years ago. We asked the staff if the 2004 book was handy, but they weren't too keen to look for it. So before leaving we signed the 2010 book, hoping to see it some odd years down the road. When we stepped outside It was pouring with horizontal rain stinging us as we attempted to cook dinner and get ready for bed. Luckily we woke up this morning to nothing but blue skies and white capped mountains. What a beautiful place. Mt. Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand at 3,754 meters/ 12,316 feet. The Tasman Glacier is to the east and the Hooker Glacier is to the west. We hiked to the Hooker Glacier, a 4 hour return trip along the rocky track with fast rivers and interesting bridges. What a pretty site. Small icebergs remained in the lake basin, melting quickly in the spring sun, but the mountain peaks still had an impressive amount of snow with ice blue glaciers peaking through.
