Tuesday 14 April 2015

Aorangi Mount Cook

Yesterday and today have been a real shock to the system.
The Snow Queen decided to let us know winter
 is just around the corner by sending snow, wind and hail. 
The temperatures dropped to 3 degs F yesterday afternoon.
I decided it was a good day to stay home
 in the warm and read a good book, so I did!

hail on the lawn
And this reminded me that I hadn't done a post
on our trip last August to Aorangi  Mount Cook.
Well that's not quite true, I have written about some of the trip here
and said I would write more but it must have slipped my mind.
Which is quite remiss of me seeing as the whole point
 of the trip was to go to the mountain.

So here is Part 2 of Day 2 :)
We left our motel in Fairlie early in the morning
and drove inland, heading for the Southern Alps.

high country farmland 
We stopped at Lake Tekapo and after a hot drink from the thermos
 we went into the little Church of the Good Shepherd
and after a time headed on our way again. 
 The freezing fog had burnt off by the time we reached
 Lake Pukaki and the Southern Alps were ranged out before us.

Lake Pukaki 
It was a beautiful day and we stopped here 
 on the way back for photo's. Stunning views.
You can see the size of the boulders on the lakeside,
 they were huge, that is my son near the lake.
We had to clamber over them to get good pics, 
or stand on top of one if you weren't up to the clambering.
And that was mission. But it was fun.

Now this is something I love, every time I see it.
You're driving along and come to a bend in the road. 
The scenery is already quite spectacular and 
you round this bend and there is the mountain - 
dead in front of you.

Aorangi Mount Cook aka Aoraki Mount Cook
The lady at our motels had said to us that 
Aorangi was 'performing beautifully this year'.
And it didn't disappoint.
Covered in snow from top to bottom
 I thought it was quite breathtaking.
We drove on and arrived in time for a bit of a walk around the village,

three intrepid explorers :)
before heading  into the hotel restaurant for
a welcome coffee and some lunch.
Our DIL wanted a meat pie, she loves our meat pies,
and couldn't understand why I wouldn't have one as well.
I prefer something lighter when all I'm doing is sitting and travelling.

number one son and his wife (Aorangi to the left)
After lunch we decided to take our drinks
 out onto the balcony  while we relaxed, 
chatted and enjoyed the view.

larger than life statue of Sir Edmund Hilary,
the first man to climb Mt Everest
After a very enjoyable afternoon at the village,
 and a little time in the gift shop, we won't mention what we spent,
we climbed back into the car and headed for our motel again.
If we had thought about it earlier we could have done a round trip
 as we were actually closer to our caravan in Cromwell 
than we were to the motel - but they were in opposite directions to one another. 
Oh well, up top for thinking so they say.
Eventually we arrived back at the motel, 
about 12 or maybe even 14 hours after we had left.
Anyway 'twas a long day by the end of day 2 of our road trip.

We had a wonderful day out, took number one son
 somewhere he had never been before 
so he and his lovely wife were able to discover it together. 

joining with:

Enjoy your week, 
keep well and 
I'll be with you again soon,
Diana



21 comments:

  1. I find as I get older, I prefer day trips!! I like to sleep in my own bed at night!!

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  2. May the Snow Queen have mercy on you. And that Lake Pukaki is very pretty.

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  3. We flew over Mount Cook almost 15years ago it still sometimes feels like only yesterday you post brings back wonderful memories

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  4. Such incredible beauty. Thanks for sharing your photos. Truly breathtaking.

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  5. Thanks for sharing such beautiful pictures..

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  6. Such beautiful countryside. Tom The Backroads Traveller

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  7. Wow, stunning views is an understatement! My dear friend, your photos are absolutely glorious! The mountains took my breath away :)

    Thank you so much for sharing with Roses of Inspiration. Hugs to you!

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  8. Sorry about the hints of winter. We're just finally done with ours (fingers crossed). Your scenery is absolutely spectacular! Ah, what a sight!

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  9. I love the mountains, so pretty.

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  10. Hi Diana, what an amazing trip and your photos are gorgeous. The mountains are just breathtaking. This would be a view never to tire of.
    Thank you for sharing.
    Hugs, CM

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  11. Beautiful scenery Diana! What a joy it must be to travel through :-)

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  12. Always a wonder and joy visiting You dear friend so far away. So glad We have one more interest in common....Mountains.......I love them.I think that range of mts. is breathtakingly gorgeous.OX Denise

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  13. Always a wonder and joy visiting You dear friend so far away. So glad We have one more interest in common....Mountains.......I love them.I think that range of mts. is breathtakingly gorgeous.OX Denise

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  14. Dearest Diana; Oh My, hail and the cold weather! I went to our city park to see our newly opened zoo corner with my friend and felt really hot under the fine weather, (I always feel funny about our different season p:-)
    I'm SO happy for your WONDERFUL trip with your family. What a GORGEOUS mountain view☆☆☆ And I smiled with your caption 'three intrepid explorers' :-) Thank you SO much for sharing the breathtaking views,Dear friend♪

    Sending Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan to my Dear friend in New Zealand, xoxo Miyako*

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  15. How I would love to go around a bend and see a mountain! (It's very flat here!). The scenery you have shared with us is just spectacular, what a wonderful trip to think about while the snow falls outside. Take care xx

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  16. Wow that is some stunning scenery, the water is so flat and calm looking and those mountains are something else. It sounds as if you had a great trip. :)

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  17. ahhh, what beautiful country...and so glad you had such a lovely day with your son and DIL...
    and I just noticed your Countdown to Christmas...only 250 days left.? Oh, dear, I better get to shopping. :)

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  18. Hi Diana! Oh, this is a beautiful area and I know you all had a great time. Oh, my! Your snow is beginning to fall and mine has just melted! :) Stay warm and I always appreciate hearing from you.
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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  19. I love your part of NZ and plan to explore it in the near future. It's so different than Taranaki--which has been summer-like the last few days!

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