Mt. Cook/Aoraki

Mount Cook, or Aoraki in Maori, is the highest mountain on the South Island and in New Zealand, reaching a height of 3724m (+/- a few meters). Sir Edmund Hillary himself practiced here for his Mount Everest ascent, and a museum still commemorates this.

However, it is not recommended for ordinary people to attempt a summit ascent (both from Mt. Everest and Mt. Cook), as without the necessary knowledge and skills, one can quickly run into major problems.

There is a layer of snow on the summit all year round, and during the days I was there, the temperatures reached -7°C.

Without much thought, I can say that Mount Cook is one of the highlights of New Zealand.
Already on the way there, we were amazed by the color of the lakes, which is a radiant turquoise. Turquoise like the sea in the tropics, only embedded in a lake landscape.
From Lake Pukaki, we had the first views of Mt. Cook, and the combination of mountain and lake was simply magical.

In the national park itself, there is a small village, Mt. Cook Village, which mainly consists of motels, hotels, and holiday homes. Thanks to Stray, I was lucky enough to get a bed in that motel, as everything else was fully booked.
Due to the tight schedule, I only had one afternoon to make the most of my stay.

The most famous hiking trail in the national park is the Hooker Valley Walk. I don't want to offend anyone, but it was one of the most boring hikes I have done in New Zealand so far.
The trail leads through a valley and is therefore relatively flat (and therefore suitable for everyone. Especially for those who don't want to exert themselves ;)).
The highlights are the three suspension bridges along the way, and at the end, you are rewarded with a great view of Mt. Cook and the lake. There are still small icebergs floating in the lake, even a black one was there!
I completed the trail at a quite brisk pace, taking one hour for each way, and that was already too long for my taste.

I liked the Sealy Tarns Track much better, which I deliberately did before the Hooker Valley Track.
Deliberately because the Sealy Tarns involves a climb of 600 vertical meters in just a few kilometers. That sounds pretty steep, and it gets even better because you have to go up steps almost the entire time, 2200 steps in total. This gives the track the nickname 'Stairway to Heaven'. More like 'Stairway to Hell' in my opinion...

But I have climbed much tougher challenges before and was looking forward to being able to move again after the long bus ride. However, I quickly felt the burn in my muscles, and from that point on, it was no longer fun.
I eventually stopped counting the steps because I had more important problems. Such as trying to prevent my lungs from exploding. We had fantastic weather with blue skies and sunshine, which was great for photos but didn't exactly make hiking easier.

It is stated that it takes 3 hours (round trip) for the Sealy Tarns, but I managed to do it in half the time. Yes, I was quite proud of myself. All that hiking in the Fjordland paid off!
And - the view was worth every single step! I got so close to the Mueller Glacier that I could see individual ice formations, and the view of Mt. Cook from up there was much better than from the Hooker Valley (I didn't know that at the time, though).

In my opinion, anyone with a bit of fitness (and maybe no knee problems, which were quite intense on the way down) should definitely tackle the Sealy Tarns Track!

But since I have mastered both tracks now (yes, I'll stop talking about it!), I was pretty exhausted at the end of the day. My legs were shaking even when I was just standing, which was probably due to a bunch of stair steps and not because of the Hooker Valley. Also, I probably didn't eat enough and got too much sun, even though I was wearing sunscreen and my snazzy cap.

So I didn't do any stargazing at night, especially since I still have three more nights in Tekapo, which is the Mecca of stargazing.
The next morning, I still felt pretty miserable, so I preferred to sleep a little longer instead of getting up early to go on another bush walk. Please forgive me for this weakness...

On the way to Tekapo, we stopped again