Chris and Andrea's Travel Blog: New Zealand

After three great days in Christchurch area, we woke up super early so we could drive to Mount Cook and do some hikes there before heading to Oamaru for a night. It was a 4.5 hour drive from Christchurch to Mount Cook and then another 2 hours from Mount Cook to Oamaru. We knew we had a busy day ahead of us, but were really excited to explore Mt Cook, the highest mountain in Australasia at 3000m. The drive to Mt. Cook was beautiful (like all our drives so far!). We stopped at the i-site (information kiosk) at Mt.. Cook to buy a $1 guide for all of the walks to do on the mountain. We decided to do the 3-4hr Hooker Valley walk that takes you over 2 swing bridges that cross the Hooker River to get to the base of Mt. Cook and where the Hooker River begins. It was an amazing, but challenging walk as a lot of it was over large rocks and boulders. After the second swing bridge, we stopped on some rocks to have our sandwiches and take some photos. We were going to turn around just over halfway through because it got very overcast and rainy and we didn't think we'd see the mountain, but we decided to finish the walk...we didn't come all this way to quit! And we were rewarded with amazing views at the end!! The weather cleared up and the sun came out, so by the time we reached the end of the hike, at the base of the glacier/mountain, we were able to see the entire 3000m of mountain! It was amazing! We stopped and had some apple for snack and sat and enjoyed the view. Chris stuck his hand in the glacier water, but pulled it out pretty quick!

We walked quite briskly on the way back because we wanted to do another walk to the Tasman Glacier. By the time we were done the Hooker Valley walk, we were tired, but wanted to keep going. So, we got in the car and drove to the car park where we could do the Tasman Lake/Glacier walk. It was only a 50 minute walk, but after walking all morning, we were quite tired! The walk was through a boulder field, so not quite as picturesque as the walk to Mt. Cook, but still enjoyable. The lake was massive and had iceburgs from the glacier floating in it. We sat and enjoyed the view for a bit before we headed back to the car park. Once there, we got ourselves organized and ready for the drive to Oamaru.

The drive to Oamaru was really nice and not too long (~2hrs). We arrived in the town at about 7pm and pulled up to our hostel (Empire Backpackers) which was in a really neat building which was constructed in the 1870s. It was a small place, but lovely and nice and quiet! Once we were settled, we made some dinner and then relaxed for a bit. At 9:30pm, we walked down to the ocean to see the penguins come in for the night, but we only saw one little guy sitting on the rocks, and it was getting pretty dark, so we headed back to the hostel. It was an absolutely amazing day, but we were exhausted by the end.