Blog 5. 9March. Glentunnel to Aoraki/Mount Cook

Alcedo
David Batten
Sun 11 Mar 2018 20:28
We left Whitecliffs to rejoin Route 72 with it still too dark and dull for photographs, joining Route 79 and then the much busier Route 8. With Driver 1 in Silverstone mode, we arrived on the shores of Lake Takapo in sunshine just before lunch and had the first taste of a glacial lake.

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Amazing colours and an amazing number of tourists, so we went on to Lake Pukaki for a quick lunch and a photograph at the viewing stop

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The view, Lake Pukaki with what should have been a beautiful first picture of Mount Cook at the far end, but obscured by cloud.

After a swop to driver 2 and a more sedate pace, driving up the west side of Lake Pukaki, and beyond along the glacial plain chiselled out by the Tasman Glacier, now receding and much reduced.

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Camping is at the very popular DOC campsite beyond the Aoraki/Mount Cook village, another tourist hotspot, but it offers lovely walks including one across 3 swing bridges up the Hooker Valley.

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The Hooker Valley

Tomorrow, the weather promises to be fine, so we take the plunge and book a trip for helicopter and sea/snow plane flight and landing up the Tasman Glacier towards Mount Cook, with a landing on the glacier.

Alcedo

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