New Zealand Tour Guide: Part IV (Tekapo and Mt. Cook)

We left Christchurch to drive to Queenstown.  On the way, we stopped to admire Lake Tekapo and walk around Mt. Cook National Park.  The water and mountains in both places were glorious.

This stone church overlooks Lake Tekapo and is quite popular in tourist-y calendars...

Typically, I've stopped at a lookout on the left side of Lake Pukaki to take photos of Mt. Cook, but we found a nice spot from the Kettlehole track to be shutterbugs instead.

I lead Jo and her Aunt Mary down the Hooker Valley.  The valley is seriously amaaaazing (I'd love to see it in winter sometime!).  The walk is easy enough for visitors with a little fitness and determination. You can't see the peak of Mt Cook in this picture.  Aoraki is the Maori name for the mountain and the "cloud piercer" was hiding under clouds until we started heading back to the car.

 I had hiked along the Tasman valley before, but this was my first time walking around the "Blue Lakes".  It was nice to get away from the small crowd that gathered at the nearby lookout to view the Tasman Glacier.

Definitely a quiet picnic spot that I'd recommend.

What's a trip to Mt. Cook village without a little elevation gain?  We walked the Red Tarn track for a new perspective of the area.

I scrambled a little higher above the red tarns... what a view!

Our adventures didn't stop here. No, sir.  Up next: Queenstown...