New Zealand day 3 Aoraki, Mt. Cook, Twizel

Thursday, March 12

This morning, we started off a little later. We had gone to the store last night and purchased some stuff to make breakfast in our . After eating, we loaded up in the car for a 2 1/2 drive to the Aoraki / Mount Cook area. Along the way we stopped at a couple of Vista points overlooking one of the beautiful New Zealand lakes. 

As we get close, we can see Mount Cook in the background. This is the area that we are heading to for a couple of hikes.

We arrived in the Mount Cook region and prepared for our first hike the Tasman glacier view. It was just under a mile, but it was almost entirely stairs, cut into the trail. Along the way we saw what is named the blue Lakes however they are actually now green. Years ago, they were fed by the glacier and were actually blue. However, now they are sustained with rainwater which promote geology growth causing the green color.

We reached the top of the trail and had an awesome view of a large lake, fed by the Tasman glacier. 

This last picture in the series is zoomed in on the end of the glacier field. It is very hard to see because there are so much dirt that has been carried down on top of the ice, but you can see the front of the flow at the waters edge and the white portion of the glacier behind the dirt field.

A short distance away was our next hike, the Hooker Valley Track.

Mount Cook is in the background but covered by clouds of on the upper half.

At Mt Cooks base sits another glacier filled lake. 

A footbridge sits over the river leading away from the Lake.  We will be crossing it on our way.

The bridge has an interesting sign noting that the Bridge limit is 20 people! Sherri, who is a transportation engineer got a kick out of it.

Looking down at the river from the bridge, it is the characteristic greenish gray color that comes from the silt being carried in the glacial water.

We can see some glacial patches on the side of Mount Cook unfortunately the top is still covered with clouds. If you look closely, you can see some waterfalls coming down mid mountain.

We have reached the side of the lake that was pitched earlier. There is a nice wooden feeling point overlooking it. Unfortunately, there is a bridge under a construction, and they have closed the trail at this point making our hike less than half the distance we had hoped.

A side trail leads us to an alpine memorial.

The memorial has many plaques on it, honoring those who have died on the mountain over the years.

We stopped at a local restaurant and were able to get a view of Mount Cook without cloud cover!

Once again, back in the cars for another hour as we drive to tonight’s lodging, location, the town of Twizel. There is not much here and the hotel we are staying at is definitely been around a while. It is fairly eclectic with some mounted animals in the lobby.