New Zealand - Cloud Piercer

This morning we left Queenstown under clear blue skies and calm winds.  As we left Central Otago we could see clouds gathered in the next mountain ranges and crossed our fingers that the weather would either hold or improve.

We drove to Mount Cook Village, past Lake Pukaki under grey and dismal conditions.  The plan today was to do the Hooker Valley Pass trail in the Southern Alps and hopefully glimpse the tallest peak in New Zealand, Mt. Aoraki (or Mt. Cook depending on how colonial you feel).  As we pulled into the car park Mt. Sefton was starting to reveal it's peak through the clouds and around the corner up the valley it looked like the clouds might be parting.  Three miles and three suspension foot bridges later we arrived at the end of the trail.  I'll let the photos speak now:

 Lake Dunstan looking very lovely

Giant fruit.....because GIANT FRUIT

The start of the trail, looking at Mt. Sefton 

Top of Sefton

Clearing skies! 

The end of the trail, Hooker Lake and a view of Mt. Aoraki 

Lake Pukaki under the sunshine 

 Back to Lake Tekapo

The great thing about the Hooker Valley Pass hike is that it's EASY with a pretty strong payoff as long as the weather is decent.  The elevation gain is a very mild 80 meters with very few moderately steep areas.  I offered to take a photo for a solo hiker from New Zealand and she said that it was very lucky to have a clear view.  When we saw the clouds opening up we really hustled along the trail and reached the end in about 75 minutes.  So far this has been the day with the most spectacular scenery and weather.

After, we drove back to Tekapo where we'd be spending the night.  We had seen both lakes Pukaki and Tekapo on our way to Queenstown but today the blue glacial water really glowed.  Tekapo sits in the world's first and largest dark skies preserve which means that the town lights have to be below a certain wattage and they have to be aimed at the ground to minimize light pollution.  There is an observatory at the top of Mt. St. John which is at the western edge of the lake.  We were really really hoping that the clear skies would hold so that we could do some cool night photography but unfortunately it became very overcast after nightfall.  No worries.  I'm paraphrasing, but Hans basically said that we'd be expecting nature to "bat one thousand" if we got our wish for clear star gazing conditions after the hike today.  Instead, we got a really good night's sleep and so far this has been the nicest place we have stayed at.  I strongly recommend Tailor Made Backpackers Hostel in Tekapo!  The self-catering kitchen was set up really well, the rooms were very comfortable, and they had a selection of animals for the guests to enjoy including a cat, two rabbits, five chickens (who charged into the compost pile when they were released in the evening) and two very fuzzy lambs.  Awww...

Also, no annoying housemates throwing spoons at each other (long story from our stay in Queenstown).