This morning we awoke to continued rain. Overnight the wind had blown through pretty significantly a few times, and the rain - though not torrential- was consistent. The forecast was showing the rain backing off in the early afternoon, but by about 11 am it seemed to mostly have stopped.
So we set off from our campsite towards Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park, a drive of about 20 minutes.
The rain clouds were slowly lifting and we were starting to see glimpses of the rugged Mountains as we drove toward the Park. The rain had brought the first snow of the season to the high mountains and we could see it blanketing the slopes just below the clouds. From what we could see these mountains were of a different order of magnitude than those we had been gawking at around Queenstown and Wanaka. If those areas were reminiscent of Utah or Wyoming, this was like driving into Alaska.
Mount Cook National Park includes 19 peaks that rise above 3000 meters (roughly 10,000 ft) and stretching higher into the clouds than any other Mountain in New Zealand is Aoraki or Mount Cook, the park’s namesake which tops out at 12,218 feet. Māori legend tells of Aoraki son of Rakinui, the Sky Father and his three brothers on a voyage during which their canoe flipped over. Aoraki and his brothers climbed on top of the overturned canoe and the freezing southern winds turned them to stone. The canoe thus became the South Island of New Zealand (Te Waka o Aoraki) and Aoraki and his brothers became the peaks of the southern Alps.
We arrived at the National Park Visitor’s center- where we got to enjoy the warmth for a few minutes (the temperature was down to 38 degrees) and Reef was very excited to buy a compass - which he promptly hung around his neck and began referring to every 45 seconds both indoors and outdoors.
We then headed off to the Hooker Valley Track, a hike billed as a three hour endeavor - but with many intermediate destinations should that be too long for the boys.
The trail was great, often rising and sometimes falling but always leading us deeper into the Southern Alps, and further immersing us into the cathedral of rock and ice which is Mt. Cook National Park.
Eventually we reached the first of three swinging bridges on the trail. The bridge crosses over a raging river, and the winds were whipping through, especially in this exposed area of the trail, pulling the already fridged temperatures even lower with the significant wind chill factor.
Well by this point River had had enough. He insisted on kicking off his boots, so was only in socks, he had tossed his beanie somewhere on the trail, his hands were freezing, and he was letting everyone know just how much fun he was having. I was hoping we’d make it at least to the second bridge, which we were more than halfway to. But after climbing some stairs and going a bit further down the trail after the first bridge, Sharyl made the responsible parent call and we turned it around and headed back towards the warmth of the RV.
Reef meanwhile was doing great, enjoying his new compass, hiking like a champion, and even mentioning that he was kind of hot in all his layers. But once we got back to the RV all was well, River warmed right up and enjoyed a second peanut butter sandwich to complement the one he had eaten before the hike.
We then drove over to the Tasman Glacier view point, only to find out it was a 15 min walk to get there. River was certainly not heading back out on even a short hike, and Reef had shed all his warm clothes. But I wanted to see it and get a a few pictures, so I hopped out and jogged up the trail.
40% of Mount Cook National Park’s nearly 180,000 acres are covered by glaciers, we had seen many already in valleys along the drive and on our hike, but no glacier in New Zealand is as large as Tasman Glacier. At 14.6 miles long and 2000 feet thick, the Tasman Glacier is one of the most significant aspects of the Park.
Well, there are lots of reasons to be pissed off about Global Warming, and humanity’s inability to take it on with the level of seriousness required, but today I got 331 more reasons. That is the number of stairs I climbed to see a lake where Tasman Glacier once was.
The glacier is still there in the far distance, but it is shrinking by roughly 2000 feet per year.
In 1948 when New Zealand Climber Sir Edmund Hilary climbed Mt. Cook as part of his preparation for Mt.Everest, which he and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people to successfully climb May 29, 1953, the Tasman Glacier at the base of the mountain would have been 17 miles long. It remained stable at that length all the way until the 1990’s before it started shrinking as it is today.
Hiking back to the car there were great views down the valley.
Once back to the RV we headed towards the campground, only stopping once on the way to look at one of the countless waterfalls coming down every mountainside.
Back at the campground we dug into some smoked salmon from the Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon Shop, like the sashimi last night it was fantastic. The clouds continued to thin as the sun set, and finally we could see the tops of a few of the mountains closest to our campground. After dinner River did a quick table dance to celebrate our last night in the RV.
Tomorrow it’s back to Christchurch for one night before flying home to Maui.
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