Aoraki Mt. Cook National Park

November 04, 2023

Aoraki Mt. Cook National Park

Friday, October 20th - Arrival at Aoraki

Our final leg of the big trip - Aoraki Mt. Cook National Park. There are only two options if you want to stay at Mt. Cook - The Hermitage Hotel or campsites. Mt. Cook feels much smaller than any national park that we've been to in the states. All the trail heads were within a few miles of the hotel, making it super easy to explore!

Our fellow Erskine friends from Christchurch, Sofie, Wylie and Mara, also booked a reservation here this weekend, so we could all hang out. It was really nice to have other people to get together with and enjoy a New Zealand adventure together. Friday afternoon, after check-in, us four took a quick hike to a lookout, then met our friends for dinner at one of the bar/restaurants on site at the hotel. It felt like a cafeteria at a ski lodge and was pretty underwhelming as far as the food went, but I'm pretty sure you don't go to Mt. Cook for the food ;).

Drive approaching Mt. Cook

Quick hike to lookout from the hotel - snow on ground from the day before

View of Hermitage Hotel from the back as we returned from the hike

View from our hotel balcony - full moon lighting it all up!

Day 2 - Saturday, October 21st

Jay had his second (and final) day of his UAE project meeting from 5:00am - noon. The hotel situation worked out great for this, as he was able to find a table to work at near the lobby. It also gave the kids time to get some more school work done.

We were rewarded by our hard work with a beautiful hike on the Hooker Valley Trail to Hooker Lake. The trek is 7 km round trip (or return, as they say here), and it only has an 80m elevation gain. A bonus is that you get to cross three swing bridges along the route. The views were spectacular, as we were hiking among glaciers and towering mountains. To get to mountain views like this in the states, based on our experiences, would require a multi-day backpacking trip where you have to trek for several miles and gain lots and lots of elevation. The Hooker Valley Trail is what you'd call "low effort, high reward" :).

Hooker Valley Track

Photo Dump from Hike:

Glacial ice! Hurry up and take this photo, my fingers are gonna fall off!

Wylie and Mara - she slept most of the way ;)

Jay and Wylie at Hooker Lake

This is how you take a selfie, mom!

Maggie was put to work babysitting Saturday night for Finn and Mara in our hotel room, while us four adults enjoyed a nice dinner in the Panorama Room of the hotel and then drinks at the bar afterwards. The food at Panorama Room was finer dining, but I'd say it was only okay. Kind of a classic menu. The view from dinner and the company was great, though! Didn't get any pics of our night out :(.

Alpen Glow on Mt. Cook - view from dinner

Maggie FaceTiming with her friends back in Colorado-not many options for privacy in a hotel room, she started in the bathroom but moved to our balcony

Sunday, October 22nd - Departure day back to ChCh

The New Zealand All Blacks were playing in the Ruby World Cup Finals against South Africa Sunday morning. Sadly, NZ was unable to come ahead of South Africa and didn't pull off the W. As soon as the game was over, we checked out and drove to one final hike, Tasman Lake, on our way out of Mt. Cook.

The short trek led us to the glacial blue waters of Tasman Lake filled with floating icebergs. A chunk of ice actually broke off one of the icebergs when we were down at the lake. The kids and Jay waded out to touch the piece of broken-off ice, but only after several minutes of building up the courage to get in. The water was, in fact, as cold as ice.