Driving toward the park from the small town of Twizel we got our first look at Mount Cook in the Mt. Cook National Park. The park is at the end of a dead end road, as most roads to cool things in New Zealand tend to be, and boasted many really nice 3 to 5 mile hikes.
Getting closer!
Time for hike number 1 to Kea Point. The 1 hr return means round trip. We have found that the times (they generally do not use distances) on their signs are fairly accurate for our pace. Would have thought we would be in better shape for hiking than the average person but we guess not in New Zealand.
That is a lake in the middle of the picture. It has a color of gray silt from the glacier runoff. Across the lake is the lateral moraine of one of the glaciers in the area. The glacier that left the moraine debris is not visible here as it has receded by 400 meters over the past few years.
Mueller Glacier is quickly disappearing. Amazing the amount of rock carving these ice giants do as they ebb and flow.
Hike number two was up to see the Tasman Glacier and Tasman Lake. On our way up the 300 foot of elevation gain we got a glimpse of the 3 “Blue Lakes”. Turns out they used to be blue before the melting of much of the glacier mass left them “high and dryer” so to speak. With little water left in them the algae took over and turned them green. Still pretty though.
Laurie looks out over Tasman Lake with its fabulous silty color. There was a small iceberg that had broken off the glacier but photos could not capture it. The small blip in the lake to the right of her head is actually a kayaker! Hope he/she does not flip as this was definitely a 5 out of 5 on the SSS because there is ice floating in that water. A reference for those of you that remember the Seinfeld “Shrinkage” episode about the scrotum shrinker scale. The Tasman Glacier is actually visible but it is covered in “dirt” so it does not look like ice. Its terminus is the flat line at the top of the lake.
Hike number three of the day up the Hooker Valley Track gave a different view of Mueller Lake and the lateral moraine of the Mueller Glacier. Unbelievably beautiful and peaceful to see. We would have loved to see this river at spring melt time.
Above is the suspension bridge we took the previous picture of. The signage on the bridge said “Maximum load limit is 20 people”. We counted more than that so we waited our turn patiently. There were three of these engineering marvels along this route.
Another fabulous view in the opposite direction of the valley formed by the glacier over the past 5 major ice ages on the planet.
On our way back “home” we ran into a few interesting things:
We have seen many long distance touring cyclists in New Zealand. Here is yet another example of having to bike down a long 50 mile road just to turn around and bike back out. No shoulders either! Notice the older one lane bridge. New Zealand has many of these where one side has a sign with a black arrow and the other with red. Red gets the right of way if two cars show up at the same time. That has only happened to us once in 7 weeks! Most drivers are very courteous and cautious toward the bikers but it only takes one.
We passed by a salmon farm and did a bit of research on how sustainable it is and what damage it does to the surrounding river/lakes. As the fish are all penned up in these “cages” they are constantly pooping into the surrounding waters causing what we feel is a big mess. They also do not get any exercise so they tend to be very fatty. Laurie found that out the hard way as she purchased, cooked and ate some only to feed the rest of it to a stray cat outside our place.
Back at our place we noticed that our neighbor had hung his sheep pelts in the far back yard to dry. That will be 25 million minus 2 sheep in New Zealand!
Cool pelts!!
Beautiful pics of the glaciers!!!
Doesn’t look to be terribly cold outside! It’s Summer right?
Such beauty! It never even occurred to me that fish needed exercise. But it certainly makes sense, as all that swimming keeps them svelte!