Queenstown to Aoraki.Mt Cook NAtional Park

On Tuesday 15th May I said a final good bye to Queenstown and the Kawarau Gorge as we headed on the Kiwi Bus to Twizel. I left the Kiwi Bus in Twizel and caught the Mt Cook connection bus. The journey to Mt Cook village took about 45mins through what is known as MacKenzie Country. The drive was lovely as we drove along the side of Lake Pukaki. From here we also got views of Mount Cook. The Maori name for Mt Cook is Aoraki which means Cloud Piercer, from the following photo you can see this - Mt Cook is the one piercing the cloud in the middle of the photo. We then continued along the road to the Mount Cook Village. We got a quick tour of the village - there is not much here other than a few hotels, motels or hostels, a school and a cafe! Below is a photo of Mt Cook Village. The large grey building is The Hermitage Hotel which costs up to $880 a night to stay in!After lunch I met a couple called Amy and Craig and their friend Chris. The four of us then did the Kea Point Walk. It was a walk which took about an hour and a half return. The viewpoint was at the Muller Glacier Moraine Wall where we got views of the Muller Glacier, Muller Lake, Mt Seffton and The Footstools. It was a lovely walk. Back at the hostel we spent the evening watching films.

On the Wednesday the weather was horrible - very wet and windy. As I had 2 days planned in the park I decided to leave the walks for Thursday in the hope that the weather improved a bit! I spent the day sorting things out in the hostel and watching films. Late afternoon the weather cleared up so Amy, Chris, Craig and I went up to the Mountaineers Cafe for a few drinks. The sunset was lovely:

On the Thursday I got up early and it was a better day than Wednesday so I headed out for a walk. I decided to head along t0 the Hooker Valley and see what these swing bridges were like that people had spoken about. On the way there I passed an Alpine Memorial which had the names of those who have died while tramping in the park - don't worry Mum they were doing much more difficult walks to me and in much worse conditions. From here it wasn't far to the first swing bridge. However on arriving there I decided it would be better not to try and cross it in the winds - it was rather a long bridge and if I crossed it I would have to come back across it again! However it was still a really nice walk. I then came back to the hostel and had a quiet afternoon. In the evening I went to the pub with Dan and Natasha (brother and sister I met who are on the Kiwi bus), and a few others from the hostel. It was a fun evening.

On the Friday morning I quickly went for a walk up to the Hermitage Hotel to take some last minute photos before catching the bus back to Twizel. The Hermitage Hotel: