December 8

Mt. Cook: Rain and day-hikes

It was still raining when I awoke at 6 AM. Most people were still asleep. I fixed breakfast, and saw a nice double rainbow behind the hostel. Then I went down to the visitor's center at 8 to check the weather forecast. My Trusty car stalled on the way, and I began to wonder about whether this was really such a good deal. Getting a car stranded here would be quite a nuisance, since I would have no choice but to get a bus to Te Anau to do the Milford and Routeburn treks before coming back to deal with the car. Fortunately, I got it started again. I probably should have warmed it up more before starting it this morning, and would be more careful in the future.

At the visitor's center, they said the weather was improving, but visibility would be poor today, with some rain. But - tomorrow would be beautiful. I decided to put off my walk to Mueller Hut for a day. I still had time to do that, but would have to drive to Te Anau the same day I finished that walk to make it there in time to start the Milford Track. While at the visitor's center, I watched the slide show on Mt. Cook and the history of mountaineering in the park.

I went back to the hostel and told them I would stay tonight, but not tomorrow night, since I would be at the hut then. I walked around the village in a light rain, and looked into the Hermatage, the fancy hotel in town. I bought some kiwi and sheep Christmas ornaments at the gift shop, and did a short nature walk through the dense forests. Then I read brochures at the hostel until lunch, since I still had no definite plans for most of my trip. I read about some cave trips that looked interesting in the Greymouth area, and something called "canyoning" in Wanaka, that looked really exciting. I would keep these in mind. I also read about Maori hangis: feasts cooked in the ground. I would have to try one of these sometime also. The Maori were the first settlers in New Zealand, but I had not seen any evidence of them yet.

For lunch, I walked to the small cafe next to the Hermatage and had a lamb-rosemary pastry with chocolate cheesecake. They had a lot of things that looked delicious. Indeed, the meat pies and deserts were one of the nicer aspects of dining in New Zealand. They were relatively inexpensive, and made a fine lunch.

The sun started to come out after lunch, and I decided to do some hikes. I went back to the hostel and read about the local day hikes. I began with a steep climb to the `Red Tarns', as small lake overlooking the valley. If it were not cloudy, there would have been a great view of Mt. Cook here. I did the `3 hour' walk in about an hour, then walked an adjoining nature trail through the forest.

I went back to the hostel and asked them to make a reservation for Te Anau Sunday, since I would be getting in late after a `3 hour' return hike from Mueller Hut and the 6-8 hour drive. The office in Te Anau was closed, so I would have to wait until later.

Next, I decided to explore the Tasman Valley, and drove 8 km out a gravel road to a parking area. I wanted to go to the Blue Lakes, but I thought they were further ahead, along Blue Lakes Road, which is closed to rental cars. I walked 3 km to the end of the road before realizing I was in the wrong place, and there were no lakes here. The wildflowers were nice though, and it was now warm and sunny, completely different from the weather across the ridge in Mt. Cook Village. I put on sunscreen and returned to my car, which I now knew was already in the Blue Lakes parking lot.

I walked to the Blue Lakes, five in all, mostly small ponds with no outlets. Two were just big murky potholes. The first and last were the clearest and biggest. I waded in the last one briefly, and found that it was not too cold. The lake was more green than blue. Across the ridge was the end of the immense Tasman Glacier, and a walk to an overlook forked off near the first lake. The glacier was mostly gray and covered with fine rock. Next, I drove back 1 km and found the turnoff to a waterfall overlook, where I parked, and walked past a duck pond, following the river up to a viewpoint for the falls. I tried getting close to it, but it was hard work, and the view didn't improve much, since the falls was now in shadows.

After exploring the Tasman Valley, I got back to the hostel at 6:30 and reserved a bed at the Te Anau hostel. I made spaghetti for dinner. The clouds had mostly lifted from Mt. Cook by now, except for a rounded `hat' on top. I took a picture, and later watched the sunset. I got back to the hostel at 9:45 at dusk, just before they locked the door for the night. If you come back later, you must know the combination to open the door. I went out a while later on the back porch to see the stars, which looked similar to those at home, though I didn't recognize any constellations except Orion. The dippers were missing, of course.

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1996. All rights reserved.