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msconductAnd finally! The slam-bang finale: Aoraki/Mt Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand and a special place to all New Zealanders. Which, unaccountably, I'd never been to before.
To get to Aoraki from Queenstown, you have to cross the Lindis Pass, the second highest point on New Zealand's state highway network and a beautiful drive. And sometimes your road companions can be on the unusual side. We certainly weren't expecting this:
Fortunately at one point it pulled over and the queue of cars that had built up all escaped under the wing.
Aoraki itself is set in a national park. This means that there's very little there other than the stunning views: just a hotel, some lodges, a campground and a cafe (because New Zealanders are liable to turn faint if they're forced to go without barista coffee). You feel like you're miles away from anywhere and it's awesome. To get to the village, you drive along Lake Tekapo, an absolutely stunning sight in itself. And at some point you round a bend and see this:
Aoraki is the pointiest bit. And no, I haven't twiddled this in Photoshop. The water really is that colour. Everything's that colour.
We could have stayed in one of the perfectly nice lodges, but because this was my first visit I decided to push the boat out and stay in the world-famous-in-New-Zealand Hermitage Hotel, on the scenicest floor they had. Good call, because when we arrived, this was the view from my window:
I was hoping the next day to do the lovely three hour walk through the Hooker Valley at the base of the mountain. However, as with everywhere else in the South Island in December you can never count on the weather, and this was the view from the cafe the following day:
Oh well, probably not a bad thing as I was still suffering fairly badly from my cold. Besides, it gives me the excuse to go back. As well as the Hooker Valley track, I really want to kayak through ice on Lake Tekapo. I did something similar in both Alaska and Antarctica, and was thrilled to find I could have the same experience on my own doorstep.
The next day we had to drive to Christchurch to reluctantly get our plane home. Naturally, the weather turned brilliant. It did at least give me the opportunity before we left to get a few hundred more photos of this ridiculously photogenic mountain.
We made it! That's finally it: a full and frank account of my misery as a New Zealander trapped within my own borders at the whim of a tyrannical government as a pandemic raged on outside. Oh, woe! Because it's easy, travel in New Zealand always goes on the "someday" portion of my travel wish list. Being forced to holiday close to home by the pandemic turned out to be a massive blessing. I can't wait to do more of it.
To get to Aoraki from Queenstown, you have to cross the Lindis Pass, the second highest point on New Zealand's state highway network and a beautiful drive. And sometimes your road companions can be on the unusual side. We certainly weren't expecting this:
Fortunately at one point it pulled over and the queue of cars that had built up all escaped under the wing.
Aoraki itself is set in a national park. This means that there's very little there other than the stunning views: just a hotel, some lodges, a campground and a cafe (because New Zealanders are liable to turn faint if they're forced to go without barista coffee). You feel like you're miles away from anywhere and it's awesome. To get to the village, you drive along Lake Tekapo, an absolutely stunning sight in itself. And at some point you round a bend and see this:
Aoraki is the pointiest bit. And no, I haven't twiddled this in Photoshop. The water really is that colour. Everything's that colour.
We could have stayed in one of the perfectly nice lodges, but because this was my first visit I decided to push the boat out and stay in the world-famous-in-New-Zealand Hermitage Hotel, on the scenicest floor they had. Good call, because when we arrived, this was the view from my window:
I was hoping the next day to do the lovely three hour walk through the Hooker Valley at the base of the mountain. However, as with everywhere else in the South Island in December you can never count on the weather, and this was the view from the cafe the following day:
Oh well, probably not a bad thing as I was still suffering fairly badly from my cold. Besides, it gives me the excuse to go back. As well as the Hooker Valley track, I really want to kayak through ice on Lake Tekapo. I did something similar in both Alaska and Antarctica, and was thrilled to find I could have the same experience on my own doorstep.
The next day we had to drive to Christchurch to reluctantly get our plane home. Naturally, the weather turned brilliant. It did at least give me the opportunity before we left to get a few hundred more photos of this ridiculously photogenic mountain.
We made it! That's finally it: a full and frank account of my misery as a New Zealander trapped within my own borders at the whim of a tyrannical government as a pandemic raged on outside. Oh, woe! Because it's easy, travel in New Zealand always goes on the "someday" portion of my travel wish list. Being forced to holiday close to home by the pandemic turned out to be a massive blessing. I can't wait to do more of it.
