Climb every mountain, ford every stream

Thursday 23rd February

Or you can walk up the path and use the three very impressive suspension bridges.  Being New Zealand they don't call them suspension bridges but swing bridges - a more apt name as the gentle swinging and bouncing motion as you walk high about the gorge did not inspire confidence in me (on the OF2 fearometer I was, 'worried').  Not to mention the signs that yell "6 persons ONLY".  This goes into the speak kiwi book where we can also add 'trundler park' (shopping trolley collection point) and 'fossicking' (gold prospecting).

We woke up to clear blue skies, yellow sunshine and white capped mountains - see picture below from our unit.  We donned our tramping togs and off we set.  Today we opted for a 3 hour walk up the Hooker Valley.  It was gentle in gradient but the environment was harsh.  Where's the glaciologist when you need one?  This walk was one ice formed feature after another - it was enough to give you a headache or should I say a moraine? 

The views all the way up were fantastic and as you came around the final terminal moraine there was the great reveal - the Hooker Lake with the Hooker Glacier falling into it and Mount Cook reflected in its steely grey, sediment-rich waters with ice bergs floating around it!  We found a quiet place to sit and enjoy this 'awesome' view and even heard a piece of ice cracking higher up the glacier. 

The peace was compromised by a party of school children arriving (about 9/10 years old) who were very well behaved.  It was interesting that it was two boys who were told off for throwing stones into the lake - nature or nurture???  Still, at that age I would have been one of those boys.

The return walk was equally good and we meandered back to the village for lunch.  This was special as we had it on a balcony with fantastic views of Mount Cook with Sir Edmund Hillary!  Okay, so it was his statue but it was still a magic spot - more awe and wonderment for the SMSC audit.  The Hermitage Hotel is the 'posh one' and it's towering presence dominates the single storey motels.  However, it is not significantly more expensive than other offerings which we found unusual.  It also contains the Edmund Hillary Centre which has lots of information and artifacts.  We spent a pleasant hour in the cinema there watching an excellent film about him which was 80% on his Everest Success.  Obviously, New Zealand is very proud of him - quite right too.

We have solved the food problem as the hotel had a mini store and the eateries are very appealing here.  We are now planning tomorrow's adventure whilst pinching ourselves about this incredible weather which  promises to be even better tomorrow.  So we are preparing the boots for another outing.......

It is always interesting (but only to those of an anal nature) which items you have bought with you were inspired and which were a waste of space.  In the latter fits the bobble hat, the gloves and too much cold weather stuff.  In the 'glad we bought them' category are, the string for hanging out the washing, the dirty washing bag (thanks S & J - it saves going through the suitcase sniffing clothes to find if they are clean or dirty) and the  mending kit.  The latter was the subject of major scoffing by OF1 but has come into its own by mending shorts and a cardigan.  So the next time you stay in a posh hotel, liberate that 'free' needle and thread set.