NZ - Mt Cook / Aoraki

After Staveley we drove down through the South Canterbury towns Geraldine and Fairlie and then to Dad's house in Hakataramea via the Burke's Pass and the Hakataramea Pass. The Hakataramea Pass road isn't marked on some maps but it was surprisingly busy in places.



This is my mother, Rika's mum and my father from the Hakataramea Pass looking west across the McKenzie basin towards the Southern Alps. You can see the outline of Mt Cook/Aoraki which is 75km away, behind Rika's Mum.


Another view of Mt Cook / Aoranki from the Haklataramea pass (7x zoom)


The next day made a day-trip to the Mt Cook National park. So we drove back over the Hakataramea Pass, through Tekapo and past Lake Pukaki to the Mt Cook township. This is Mt Cook/Aoraki from the road alongside Lake Pukaki. ' Aoraki' is the Maori name for Mt Cook and it means '"Cloud Piercer", presumably because it could often be seen poking up above the clouds.


This is a professional image the same view on a different day with better weather.


Unfortunately it was grey and overcast for much of the day so we didn't see the mountains at their best. But we did get some blue sky and eventually had get a clear view of Mt Cook and Aoraki.


We had a nice picnic lunch at the camping area at Mt Cook township, and then walked a short distance up the path up the Hooker valley. This is looking east back down the valley.


Looking west to Mt Sefton (3,157m) and its glaciers. The hill in the foreground is a moraine, a pile of rocks pushed in front of the Hooker glacier which has since retreated.


It is difficult to get a sense of the scale of the mountain and the valley. From time to time we could hear the rumble of avalanches and rock slides from different parts of the mountains. Rika's Mum spotted one avalanche high up on the glacier on Mt Sefton but we didn't hear it until several seconds later.


Looking north from Mt cook village (762m) to Mt Cook /Aoraki (3,754m). The mountain is still about 15km away.


Mt Cook and Mt Sefton from the 'Hermitage' Hotel in Mt Cook Village.


On the way back to Hakataramea we stopped in Tekapo. This is Tekapo's famous 'church of the good shepherd'. It was built in 1935 to pray for more tourists.


This is 'Taramea' or Speargrass at Mt Cook. 'Hakataramea' is a version of the old Maori name which meant 'valley of the speargrass'.