We’ve arrived in New Zealand, flying into Christchurch on the South Island and picking up our home for the next month, a Britz campervan. From Christchurch we drove straight to Aoraki/Mount Cook hoping to do some hiking and see the spectacular mountain scenery of which the region is famous. Located in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, Mount Cook at 3724m is Australasia’s highest peak. The weather in this area is highly variable, and unfortunately for us it decided to turn nasty during our visit.
En-route to Aoraki/Mount Cook we stopped off at Lake Tekapo. This lake as with others in New Zealand are a beautiful turquoise colour due to sediment in the water. Known as “rock flour” it was created when the lake’s basin was gouged out by a stony-bottomed glacier moving across the land’s surface, with the rock on rock action grinding fine particles that ended up suspended in the glacial meltwater. This sediment gives the water a milky quality and reflects the sunlight beaming down, hence the brilliant colour. This is a fantastic spot for a picnic or walk. It is also one of the finest spots on earth for stargazing due to the pollution free skies and it’s distance from any major towns.
We continued on to Lake Pukaki, another glacial meltwater lake, with it’s beautiful milky blue colour.
It was here on the shores of Lake Pukaki that we would be spending our first night in the campervan. Unfortunately by now the weather had changed dramatically from sunshine and blue skies at Lake Tekapo to rain and extreme wind. Driving the campervan was tricky, particularly in exposed places where gusts caused the van to swerve..! I’m very glad Dave was driving. We were staying at the Glentanner Holiday Park for two nights so that we could spend time hiking in the Aoraki/Mt Cook area. Let’s hope the weather improves…
Unfortunately it didn’t..! The next day we drove the remaining eighteen kilometres to Aoraki. It was blowing a gale and pouring down. We had planned to hike the Hooker Valley Track, a walking track with spectacular views of Mount Cook, that can be done in two to three hours. We didn’t even get out of the van, a gale was blowing outside and you couldn’t see a thing! As a result we have no photographs of this beautiful mountainous area.
We retired to the Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre where we learned about the great man in the small museum. He is thought to be the best known New Zealander ever to live and his face is on the 5$ note. He was the first man to reach the summit of Everest along with sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953, the first man to drive a vehicle to the South Pole, and the first man to reach the highest point on earth as well as the North and South Pole. We watched two movies, one on Hillary’s conquest of Mount Everest and the other a 3D movie about Mount Cook. A few hours well spent.
The following morning we left Aoraki/Mount Cook, still not having actually seen the mighty mountain. The whole time we were here there were weather warnings in place for this area. Before we left we did buy a huge 2kg salmon from Mount Cook Alpine Salmon, the highest salmon farm on the planet. We’ll cook it for tea when we get to Queenstown.
WHERE WE STAYED
We stayed at the Glentanner Holiday Park, a windswept holiday park on the shores of lake Pukaki. The views of the lake were good but we couldn’t really enjoy the site as the weather was so bad.
We haven’t had the best start to our campervan experience but i’m sure it will get better. The boys are loving it regardless of the weather. They are all sleeping together above the cab which is cosy but fun. They love helping to set up the van, connect the water and electricity and help with the cooking. Long may it last…onwards to Queenstown.
