Aoraki / Mt. Cook

Welcome to Aoraki or better known as Mt. Cook in NZ's Mackenzie District. Aoraki/Mt. Cook is the highest mountain in NZ measuring 3754 meters and is part of NZ's impressive Southern Alps. The Maori legend behind Mount Cook is about the story of Aoraki and his three brothers. They were the sons of Rakinui (the Sky Father) and were on a voyage around Papatuanuku (the Earth Mother) when disaster struck and they became stranded upon a reef. They climbed to the top side of the canoe and after a time the south wind froze them and turned them into stone. Their canoe became the South Island (Te Waka o Aoraki is the original name for the South Isand) and Aoraki who stood tallest of the brothers is now seen as the majestic Aoraki/Mount Cook with the Southern Alps as his brothers and other members of their crew. And now Chel & Sois are standing right between them.

It was already the late afternoon when we "gunned" the car onto the driveway of the Hermitage Hotel (the most famous hotel of NZ as we later found out) where we got a very nice room at a very nice price. we had planned to spend the entire nex day hiking but unfortunately, the weather gods were not cooperating (keep up the (naked)dancing everyone!) and we had to do the hiking right there and then (before dark). We did 2+ hours over the so-called "Hooker Valley" walk which was very cool because we walked through the valley floor which was full of plants and sediments from earlier glacier outreaches. The hike took us all the way up to the lake at the foot of the glacier and quire close to the base of Mt. Cook. As you can see on the pics, there were still pieces of ice in the lake and river. The water is so grey from all the rocks that are grinded up by the glacier.

We made it back before dark and decide to dine "in style" that night at the Hermitage's award winning restaurant (keep in mind that their prices were not more expensive than those of the crappy brasseries at the Vrijthof!). We had a nice romantic dinner overlooking the mountains and the oncoming bad weather. The next morning it started to rain and we decided to go on before things would get any worse. Besides, we also had a relatively long drive ahead to Queensland.