Mount Cook - Hooker Valley

The next day, we took the Hooker Valley***** track, 3 hrs return...All tracks are 5* at Mt Cook =D so beautiful.. This is quite an easy walk, there are two swing bridge crossing the Hooker river on the track. The view is really good along the track and so many Mount Cook lily growing all around, the largest buttercup in the world. At the end of our walk, there are floating ice on the Hooker glacier terminal Lake. How cool!

Mount Cook Lily

Super windy!!

Well not a rather clear day to see Mt Cook's peak. We walk further up beyond the track to get a closer look at the Hooker glacier and moraines, well everyone does that. But we can see that the track is not safe, rockfall area! Right after we are planning to return, the wind just picked up. Gosh its so windy!

Since the forecast for today is not too good, with rain and cloud coming in the afternoon, we are lucky to finish our walk around noon time. we had a real 'exciting' moments crossing the swing bridge (above) on the way back. The wind just push us as we cross, pam pam pam! The wind blowing strong in the valley.. We have to hold on to the hand rails securely! Someone got their hat blown off too!

Sir Edmund Hillary 

After the nice 'where is Mt Cook' walk, we spend the rest of our afternoon at the DOC info center, browsing all the interesting information about this tallest mountain of NZ. At 3746 metres, covered with snow all year round, many people have tried climbing this mountain. Including the famous Sir Edmund Hillary, the first men to climb the Everest. He actually trained himself at this mountain before attempting the Everest which is 8848metres high! Sir Edmund is 'printed' on the five dollar NZ notes. The part of track 40m before the summit,  large crack between the cornish and rock is named as Hillary Steps, after his successful climb up, followed by his companion, Tenzing Norgay... The legendary Kiwi died at the age of 88, leaving behind many other notable achievements like crossing the Antartica, the first men to reach south pole and north pole.....

There around 200 people dating back to 1912 who died in attempt to climb Mount Cook. We really pay our respect to people who climbed the mountain back in the old days since 1890s. Just imagine climbing this snowy mountain, with avalanche risk, no tracks, no waterproof gear, no proper equipments. There are more than 22 peaks around Mt Cook area that are more than 3000metres.

In December 1991, an avalanche happened suddenly at the summit of Mt Cook at midnight, decreasing 10metres in height (originally 3764m). At Twizel, a town nearby, recorded a magnited of 3.9 from the fall which lasted for 1++ minutes.

Stay strong... Little ducklings trying to beat the strong wind.. Heee cuteee..

The gust (strong wind) is even crazier in the evening! At the time of writing this, we are hiding inside our van, while our van is moving, as in shaking from the wind. OMG it is so scary!! And its raining heavily! We just pity the people who had to sleep under the tent! Their tent is still intact but they won't have a good night sleep if it continues like that for sure. And more so, the people who are climbing Mt Cook,well think no one will attempt the climb if the forecast is not good.

The next morning, we asked the info centre and the gust yesterday were about 80 km/hr!

Mount Cook - Sealy Tarn Track

Good morning salmons!! @ Twizel Salmon Farm..

Yes, we are excited too!!! Making our way to Mount Cook today!

From highway 8, turning into SH 80, we saw Mount Cook for the very first time. The road towards the tallest mountain of NZ, Mount Cook (world heritage listed) is so beautiful, with Lake Pukaki on the right hand side.

We visited the DOC info center to learn about the weathers and short walks available. We knew that today's weather going to be sunny while tomorrow is looking at rain and cloudy. So we will try to do the Sealy Tarn track (3hrs return) today! But the weather forecast in NZ is always not so accurate :p The weather can change anytime, especially here at Mount Cook where the westerly winds blows towards the mountain....

Reaching Mount Cook Village.. Oh no cloudy again...

So we proceed with our walk at Sealy Tarn*****, accessed from the White Horse Hill campground. It was a steep climb! More like climbing a long long staircase for 1.5 hours. So much pressure on the ankles and knees. But finally we made it! And the view is so so rewarding....

A good view of Mount Cook and two glacier lakes, Hooker Lake and ... Forgotten Lake Name =P

While taking our time to capture Mt Cook, avalanche is happening every now and then.. The sound is so loud and large snow falling down so heavily.. GOsh imagine having to hike under such condition...

Sealy Tarn track View

Ma Ma Miaaaa~~~

Sunset view @ Kea Point

Mueller glacier moraine wall (the grey part), the glacial debris formed this massive wall..

There is a Mueller Hut 3 hrs climb to the top of Mount Sealy to get a panorama view and watch Mt Cook during sunset &sunrise! But the track is covered in snow, so we did not even try to think of going. Not to our limits with only one sleeping bag and unsuitable footwear. So we can only try to see Mt Cook during sunset at Kea Point, again. We did not manage to see the 'pink' colour of the Mt Cook during sunset, it was too cloudy, but we did manage to see the peak of the mountain, finally!

This cute cloud formation keeps appearing then disappear above Mt Cook =)

The only DOC campsite at Mt Cook village, White Horse Hill Campground $10 pp... With good cooking shelter and clean toilets... Shower available for $2 for 5mins at the Day Shelter near the info center at the village.

Fox Glacier Day Walk

We woke up to the sun ray! Yay, for the first time in 3 days we can finally see the sun! Hope it stays the same for the rest of the day!

Driving out from the free camp at Gillespie Beach, back to Fox Glacier town....

We have been praying for few days now for the good weather , for the glacier hike! We've paid $165 pp for the Fox Glacier Guiding full day walk***** (entitled for YHA discount!). Initially we planned to go yesterday, but after the weather forecast we've decided to postpone it a day cause it seemed better with few showers (better than the rest of the week). Fingers crossed! they say the best time to visit the Westland Glacier is during winter, where there are more clear skies and less tourists.

As we reach the shop, there was a brief on our walk and then we all get ready with fitting the boots, fleece socks, waterproof bag and raincoat. We hopped on the shuttle bus and head to the mighty Fox Glacier!

A short 10 minutes drive from the shop to Fox Glacier. With Zara, our tough guide!

OMG So beautiful and so excited!! We can see the glacier from far, let's go NEARER!!

Our full day hike to the glacier, very soon we will reach the ice! Like this group in the picture above...

After an hour of hiking through the hills, we need to wear the crampons to hike on the icey part =) So excited...! 

It is our first time wearing these sturdy hiking boots, and Angie's boot doesn't fit her feet well, causing bruises in each step! Gosh, so painful, but have to endure through it for the magnificent views! And sadly, the guide doesn't even has a plaster =(

Following the guide's footsteps, safety first!

Along the way, the guide will stop for a while for picture session. So we don't need to be too busy taking pictures while walking! 

Fresh ice water! Unlimited refill =)

Watch out!

Our super girl guide, carving the track for us! Her arm is so powerful! We can be assured of our safety while walking on the glacier as the Fox Glacier Guiding has few guides checking the walking tracks every morning!

Hiking through this narrow gap.. Awesome!

Toorak Waterfall, the highest in this area!

Looking back at the valley below....

Playtime!

Oh no, I'm stucked!!! Help...

Our full day hike only reaches the lower ice fall which is around 200-300 meters. There are guided tours for reaching the higher ice fall, which means more amazing views and ice caverns (we can't see the ice caves from this full day walk), but also much more expensive. We are contented with this already! =)

Our lovely tour mate from Hong Kong, Cat. She is also on a working holiday but in Australia, so flying over to NZ to spend her hard earned Aussie Dollars!!!

It's a really good guided walk for 6 hours and we get to spend more time and see so much more than the half day walk. The half day walk costs $115 with only one hour on the glacier which is not worth it. We brought our own lunch and eat it under the rain sitting on the glacier :) What an experience! 

There are also walking tracks if you are not taking the guided walk that ends at the glacier terminal like the one we did at Franz Josef. But to see the glacier from this whole new perspective, exploring the fabulous glacier formation up close is just AMAZING~~~

At the end of our guided walk, we felt so exciting even through the night. We couldn't ask for more! Overall, the weather is quite clear with few showers but its better than what we expect it to be. We managed to capture this amazing glacier on camera and it is just our lucky day! 

West coast is one of the wettest place in the world and it had been raining heavily for days since we came here. It is just unbelievable that we missed the sun so much! The moment we are back to our van, all our wet clothes hanging around were dry! Finally... Thank god! 

Initially, we were all flat out at the caravan park, resting our feet while cooking dinner. As the sunset draws in, Peter can't stop but notice the clear sky today, so he rushed out and drive to the country side to capture some photos! He came back just in time, and I have just finished cooking. Only one conclusion in his mind, we have to go see the sunset together! So we packed up our dinner box....

And enjoy our twilight dinner with white wine and Southern Alps =) Million Dollar View~ ~ ~ Speechless....

This cloud formation, it started with only one small round cloud, then a second one to the right, then the third, and fourth and so ON! So cute =)