Benmore Peninsula, Tasman Lake & Lake Pukaki

Today we left (unplanned) an hour earlier. You could tell that even though we drove a lot and hiked, we were still at our campsite at 3. Today we went to our last highlight: The Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park.

On the way we walked the Benmore Peninsula Walk, which Benny had picked out on Maps. It was really nice, at the beginning it went steeply up to the Islands Lookout, with a view of Lake Benmore and even Mount Cook.

Then we drove along Lake Pukaki to Tasman Lake on Mount Cook. There we spotted a glacier and had a great view over the valley. Pizza dough was in the making and we checked in at the Glentanner Park Center, which is located on the bright blue Lake Pukaki. We parked so we can see Mount Cook from the bed, which is really cool.

It was super hot here, although you somehow think it would be cooler in a park with mountains, but that's probably because of the valley. That's why I went swimming for my only time in New Zealand. I wanted at least once. The lake was cold but refreshing (I lasted a few minutes), I didn't even have to dry myself off because it was so warm. Somehow I tore the front of my big toe a little bit and it bled all over my sandals on the way back, but they were no longer useful anyway.

Then we had delicious pizza for dinner. Tonight we want to look at the stars, let's see if we see anything ;)