Twizel, Mount Cook National Park; Hikes near three Glaciers, a sheep problem & a space capsule

Our drive from Fairlie took us to the Mount Cook area. We stayed for 2 nights in this area, one night in the town of Twizel and another night nearby the town, next to a sparsely used airfield for a night in a space capsule (a topic for the next page)!

During the two nights in Twizel area we drove each day about an hour to visit Mt. Cook National Park. Mt. Cook is the highest peak in New Zealand, reaching 3,724m or 12,217 Feet. For a comparison, Gros Morne is 806m, Mt. Columbia is the highest peak in Alberta at 3,747m. Sir Edmund Hillary, the famous New Zealander and first to climb Mt. Everest, started his climbing legacy in the Mt. Cook area. There is a Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre, with museum and theatre at the Hermitage Hotel in Mt. Cook village.

There are lots of hiking trails in Mt. Cook, ranging from less than an hour long to multiple days in length. We did two hikes, one was to the Tasman Lake, and the other on day 2 was the Hooker Valley Track.

On day 1 we visited the Mt. Cook Visitor Centre and then did the Tasman Lake hike. This hike takes you to the Tasman Lake, which is beside the Tasman Glacier. This was about an hour in and back. It affords stunning views of the glacier lake. You can see the glacier in the distance at the far end of the lake, covered in dirt. This hike was late in the day and the weather was good with the sun going down in the afternoon. Where it was late in the day, there were not many people on this trail.

The next day, we drove back to Mt. Cook National Park and did the Hooker Valley Track hike. This is a very popular day hike and lots of people were on this track, in spite of variable weather. It says this hike takes about three hours in and back, but we took longer, stopping to take lots of pictures, had a snack at the Hooker Lake and marvelled at the views, despite the weather. This hike takes you to two glacier fed lakes, with views of two glaciers, Mueller and Hooker. It also takes you over alpine rivers via three swing bridges.

The weather was variable during these two days, with clouds, showers, fog, drizzle and intermittent sun, just like NL!

The drive in to Mt. Cook park and village is quite beautiful, with magnificent mountains in all directions, Lake Pukaki, a large alpine lake with bright blue colour and lots of grassy hills along the road. On the first day into the park our drive got interrupted by a herd of sheep being corralled along the road. They were being taken back to their farm home to get sheared!

Lots of pictures below of the area, and a video of the traffic disruption by the sheep!

Look on the next page for pictures of our night in the Airbnb space capsule!