Aoraki Mt Cook

Aoraki Mt Cook was photographed rather frequently as it was such a stunning site on what proved to be a perfect day to be in the mountains.

It was cloudy as we headed to Mt Cook Village alongside Lake Pukaki. However, over the mountains it was clear with the sun shining on their white flanks. The road to Mt Cook Village was really good and it felt like we were the only people on it.

When we got to the village, we called into the DOC centre (Department of Conservation) to get some information. There was a very helpful man on the desk who told us about the various day walks around the area. (Some were not accessible due to recent bad weather). One that took our fancy was to the Sealy Tarns but it involved a lot of climbing. The walk entailed going up vertically about 600 metres, or about 2000 feet in imperial measurement which I relate to better. That seemed rather a lot. It was a 3–4-hour return journey and I think if we had arrived earlier we might have done it but at my speed it would have been more like 5 hours. The joys of aging.

Starved of coffee we discovered the only place to have one was at the nearby Hermitage Hotel. So, we wandered up there and had an early lunch before heading off on a walk to Kea Point which overlooks the Mueller Lake (formed at the bottom of the Mueller Glacier).

We took the long route there, walking from the Hermitage instead of the Hooker campsite. The Sealy Tarn track branched off from the Kea Point track and after a brief chat with a man who said it was a bit steep for him and his daughter (showing us a picture of a very steep staircase), we decided to attempt a little bit of it. Apparently, there are 2000 steps. I think we did about 200 of them and ascended very quickly. We walked for about 20 minutes and worked up quite a sweat, stripping off our warm clothes to get a little cooler (it was only about 7 degrees) as we climbed. Just the short distance we climbed provided great views. We now know what we have ahead of us if we decide to come back and attempt it another time.

A few of the 2000 steps

Bev working hard

We returned to our original walk to Kea Point which took us to a location overlooking Lake Mueller. It was formed at the base of the Mueller Glacier which has retreated beyond where it apparently was visible. We spoke to a group of friends one whom commented that when she had last been there 40 years ago, the glacier could still be seen. Throughout our walk, we had Aoraki Mt Cook standing sentinel over us.

Lake Mueller

Two happy trampers

We returned to the car and then headed up to the Tasman Valley to walk to the Tasman Glacier. We had to park below the moraine wall and climb a few more hundred steps to view it and the Blue Lakes (the Blue Lakes are largely green now as they are rain fed rather than fed from filtered water from the moraine). As you can see there were icebergs in the Tasman Lake. It was late afternoon, and the light was wonderful, so I hope the photos reflect how gorgeous it was. There were quite a few tourists (but not overly so) and judging from the range of accents and languages they included a few people from Asia, Europe and the North America.

Lake Tasman - glacier terminal face underneath the mountains

Icebergs in the lake

There was a diagram of the changes to the ice where the lake is now. In 1890 the ice was over the moraine wall. By 1972 it was just below the lip of it. Fifty years later the glacier has retreated something like seven kilometres, and it said that it is happening at an alarming rate of 500-700 metres a year. It is an indication of how much warming is going on. We went at the right time of the day because the reflections on the lake were rather wonderful as you can see in the photos. In the photos you can see the glacier (which has the black material on top of it).