A long journey from LA to Queenstown with a stop in SFO and Auckland was well worth after all with the unique location of the Queenstown airport surrounded by the mountains. The same fresh air that had welcomed us 7 years ago seemed to take away all the travel exhaustion with the first few breaths.
Driving in style in our 12 seater rental car, we set off for the road trip to Mount Cook. With the unspoilt open vastness, green pastures dotted with carefree grazing cattle, sapphire blue water streams and lakes and snow clad mountains in the back drop; it almost felt like it was our very own private screening of a 3D movie with surreal landscapes!
With a pit stop at a cute cafe where the kids enjoyed their ice creams and a photo stop at a vista point, soaking in the views of the majestic Mt. Cook approaching us, we reached the village.
The Mr. Cook village is a quaint and pretty village at the base of the mountains with alpine style roofed chakets, cabins and motels. The “motel” has a different connotation in New Zealand and stands for a small furnished one-bedroom apartment. Our Mount Cook Lodge Motel was a modern well-equipped apartment with a small kitchenette. The back door opened to a grassy common area overlooking the gorgeous mountain range.
After freshening up, we drove up to embark on our first adventure, the short, steep and extremely scenic “Tasman Glacier view” hike. The views at the top were the most rewarding views of the day- the vast turquoise blue Tasman lake with traces of what used to be the Tasman Glacier until it slowly succumbed to the brutal effects of global warming over the past several decades. The pristine beauty of this place and most places in NewZealand for that matter are truly unique for the lack of tourist throngs and the sparse habitation of this country. We simply could not get enough pictures with the views along the hike and all around us.
The hungry bunch headed back to the motel where we had dinner at the cafe. The pumpkin, feta, pine nut pizza and the mushroom, bell pepper pizza were devoured by the four of us in a jiffy.
It was time to crash after a long day of traveling and get ready for the famous Hooker valley hike in the morning after a quick breakfast in our small apartments. After all we gotta make the most of the less than 24 hours we have in this spectacular National Park.
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