New Zealand: South Island part 1

Landing in Christchurch I was greeted with a gigantic hug from one of my high school best friends, Sam, who is doing a three year PhD course there. It truly wasn't going to matter what we did for the following two weeks, just that we were together and could talk to one another in person. We checked out Christchurch in my first few days which is unfortunately still not completely rebuilt after the massive earthquake over 5 years ago, very sad. The ReStart mall is very unique, built out of shipping containers in the middle of the city to serve as a social hub while the city rebuilds. The Canterbury, Christchurch museum was full of surprises to us since we simply walked in off the street to escape the chilly air. We were treated to the story of the moa bird (basically a once-real life bird similar to Up's Kevin!), a hall of mirrors and optical allusions, a mock up home showcasing the paua shell collection of two New Zealanders, and info about explorers and the many southern hemisphere creepy critters.

The first weekend I was with Sam we took off, with her boyfriend Matt, to explore the infamous Mt. Cook (Aoraki). While I had gone on an on about mountains that I hiked and photographed and was in awe of over the summer in the Pacific Northwest, USA...these MOUNTAINS were more stunning, more magical, more overwhelming, more glorious than I could have imagined. We stopped along the way to toss stones into Lake Tekapo which gave us a taste of the views to come. Just after stopping we realized our appetite was getting the best of us and before we thew the car keys onto the cafe roof (yep) we filled our bellies with needed coffee and delicious meat pies. We hit the road again and not much further on we rounded a bend to the site of true beauty. Lake Pukaki perfectly frames the majestic summit of Aoraki Mt. Cook and shows off the splendor of the landscape. It is a brilliant blue shade that I still see in my head, unmatched by any paint swatch, Lake Pukaki lead us straight to the base of the mountain where we had reservations to stay at the backpackers' lodge. 

We did three hikes in the National Park and our first was the Hooker Valley Trail. It was about three hours round trip although we didn't mind since we were taking in the scenery and enjoying the company. The trail was open to the landscape and included  a few swing bridges, pictures just don't do it justice. Sam had done this hike before with our friend Emily but she was eager to hike it again since it led us to Hooker Glacier Lake which was complete with icebergs and another impeccable view of Aoraki. We finished the hike and went to the lodge to cook our dinner and play some cards before sleeping to rejuvenate for more tramping!

Our next hike was up thousands of steps...but really, it was STEEP and at least a few hundred steps. I was lagging behind as Sam and Matt pushed forward, both of them significantly more fit than I. We reached the top and were treated to another spectacular view of the mountains and valleys that surrounded us.

Back at the base of the Red Tairns trail we headed to Blue Lakes and the Tasman Glacier Lake. The Blue Lakes were in fact not blue but a handy sign informed us of the history of the area and the reasoning for the name. We took the time to read through it but then headed along to the Tasman Glacier. And the glacier is still there! It took my breath away to see a glacier because in my mind glaciers are these massive blocks of ice that only exist in the coldest of cold places now because of melting caused by global warming, but there it was, right in front of us! Another sign posted there showed that the glacier is in fact melting and that the size has significantly decreased in recent years.

The glacier is just there at the base of the mountains, it looks like the edge of the lake.

The last hike concluded our time in Mt. Cook National Park and we drove towards home with one final look at the peak behind Lake Pukaki. Since all three of us enjoy taking photographs we couldn't help but stop when we saw a brilliant field of yellow wild flowers and since all three of us love cookies we stopped at CookieTime. Ashlea's parents sent us cookies from CookieTime when we were at camp and I was happy to introduce Sam to them especially since the factory/store is right by her home. We grabbed a bag of cookie bits and had finished half of it before reaching our final home destination.