Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park

You may notice a trend with our weekend adventures. We don’t usually plan too much in advance. One of the lovely weekend getaways we’ve had here in New Zealand was a quick trip to Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park, and it was done just the same - with basically no planning.

This park has been on our must-see list (there isn’t actually a written list) since we arrived here. We initially got a glimpse of it when we drove from Christchurch to Queenstown for the first time. I giddily insisted on stopping at Lake Pukaki to enjoy the views, even though at the time the weather was rough with strong winds chopping up the lake. Regardless, I was still enamored with the color of the water, and I’ve been real keen to get back there ever since. If you’re questioning at all how blue this water really is, do a quick Google maps search for Lake Pukaki with the satellite imagery layer on. You won’t regret it.

I’m not sure if luck was involved, but we eventually made the trip toward Mount Cook while it was prime lupin season. I had also been meaning to take a trip to photograph these while in bloom, so we were glad to tick off two goals at once. Lupins? What’s the big deal? Sure, they’re just invasive weeds, but damn it they’re pretty.

Thankfully we only had a three hour drive ahead of us, so we were able to pull a classic Elliott and Liz and gear up right before leaving town. We stayed at the White Horse Hill Campground, which ended up being our first night ever camping in the Subaru, and we hiked both the Kea Point and Hooker Valley trails. It was a moody weather weekend, but the experience was perfect anyway.

Hike: Kea Point Track
Distance: 3 km / 1.9 miles
Elevation Gain/Loss: 180 meters / 590 feet
Time: 1 hour return

Hike: Hooker Valley Track
Distance: 10 km / 6.2 miles
Elevation Gain/Loss: 124 meters / 407 feet
Time: 3 hours return