Aoraki/Mount Cook

Everyday from Roundhill you could look across to the Southern Alps and see a mountaintop sticking out above the rest. Mount Aoraki/Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. 

John and I got a day off on one of our last weeks of work to make the short hour drive to Mount Cook village, at the top of Lake Punakaki, nestled in the heart of the alps.

It was meant to be a nice, clear day but relying on the weather service can be a huge mistake as predicting the maritime weather here is just short of impossible.

When we arrive Mount Cook was obscured by snow clouds and it started to snow in the village so we could barely see a thing. It was a bit of a disappointment, but the information center there was really nice so we just walked around and grabbed a coffee. 

We also went on a short walk to see the Tasman glacier. It didn't look at all like the glaciers of Fox and Franz Josef. It looked more like a wasteland--a pale green river with chunks of dirty iceberg floating on top. Like the other glaciers, it used to be much, much large and covered in snow--but it has been receding for the last few hundred years. I'll bet it looks better on a nicer, sunnier day.

Which we got the following day, along with a spontaneous and oddly-timed day off. It was a gorgeous, clear, sunny day but when I woke up in the morning and checked the status of the mountain we were closed. 

It was odd but I took advantage and made a short 45 minute drive back to the Mount Cook lookout that morning to get some nice pictures of the mountain that was finally in clear view. 

John and I also took advantage and explored the few remaining bits of Tekapo that we had yet to see. There is a small, normal-looking lake right in the township called Lake Alexandrina that we went to visit. Apparently it's small enough that it freezes over for a few weeks in the winter and you can go ice skating on it. When we went, however, it was most definitely not frozen as we had quite the mild winter.

We also decided to head up Mount John to get a look of the Mackenzie Country in the daylight. It was a short drive up the mountain and it was just as much a beautiful sight in the daylight as it was at night. You got a great 360* view and I was able to get a fantastic panorama over the whole area:

We had finally seen almost everything in Lake Tekapo, just as our time at Roundhill was coming to an end.