Mt. Cook & Lake Tekapo 🏞️

The trip began to Mount Cook National Park in Oamaru for 1 night to watch penguins. On the way we made a stop at the Moeraki Boulders - the disappointment was literally written on our faces. After we walked through the city in the afternoon and tried to fish despite the wind and cold, but were unfortunately unsuccessful, we spent the evening at the harbor watching the little blue penguins. As soon as the sun went down and it slowly became dark, the first 2 little blue penguins dared to come out of the sea. Seeing penguins in the wild for the first time was very special and exciting. After a good 2 hours and lots of penguins, we went back to the hostel full of joy to see so many cute little penguins. The next day on the way to Mount Cook we experienced the next disappointment at the Maori Rock Drawings - we didn't see many drawings there and unfortunately not much else that was spectacular, the best thing was the lunch we brought with us. But when we arrived in Otematata at our little house for the next few days we were full of energy again. We were really motivated to experience and live the Kiwi lifestyle for 2 days. Otematata is also located directly on a lake, so the rest of the day was spent at the lake. In the evening we had an Austrian evening with Tyrolean dumplings, apple strudel and Schlager. There was a lot on the agenda for the next day. So we had to get up earlier and head straight to Mount Cook after breakfast. The car ride there alone was indescribably beautiful. The first stop was at Lake Pukaki and the color of the glacial lake was super fascinating. We then continued along the lake to the highest mountain in New Zealand - Mount Cook - but unfortunately the rain and fog kept this from us for the moment. So we decided to drive on to Lake Tekapo and try our luck again at Mt. Cook in the afternoon. At Lake Tekapo I was firstly almost blown away by the crazy blue color of the lake, secondly almost blown away by the wind and then almost blown away by the crowds of tourists. As beautiful as it was there, it was unfortunately also very touristy. Nevertheless, it is definitely worth a visit and the view is breathtaking. We then looked for a less touristy place to go swimming in Lake Tekapo. Or to be more precise, it was ice bathing, but the lake was so cold that it was something very special. Fresh and completely alert again, we went on a second attempt to Mt. Cook, this time we were able to marvel at it in all its glory over Lake Pukaki on the way there. Full of motivation, we started the famous Hocker Valley Track, like many other tourists. But after a 10 minute hike the fun was unfortunately over because the track was closed, for whatever reason. We went back disappointed and looked for an alternative hike because since we've been here twice, we really wanted to go on a hike too. About 2000 steps and 1 1/2 hours later we stood speechless before Mt. Cook. Speechless on the one hand because of the many steps and on the other hand because the view was so impressive. The best part of the whole hike was the apple strudel with a view of Mt.Cook. It doesn't get much better than that. But the day wasn't over yet. Because the area around Mount Cook is very famous for its starry sky, we didn't miss it either. So we sat on our terrace under an indescribable starry sky with a bottle of wine, cards, music and good conversations until late into the night. Lots of shooting stars and the Milky Way with my naked eyes make me speechless for a while. No matter how much went wrong that day, it still had more special moments. The next day we had to say goodbye to the Kiwi lifestyle again and continued north along the east coast. 🌠