11-12 Dec - Day 5-6 - Mount Cook / Mueller Hut

Awakening on the edge of the lake, this day was supposed to be the start of our first multi-day trek to Mueller Hut. The summit, along with the hut for overnight stays, is located near the famous Mount Cook and is 'conveniently' reachable after 1200 steps, an unpaved scree field, and ridge path, with a total ascent of about 1100 meters and 3.5 hours.

After loading everything into the car, we started quite early for our standards, around 10 am, to go to the Mount Cook Visitor Center to check in for our hike (in the evening, they kindly count who made it to the hut ;-) and get the latest weather information.

What we had already learned on our drive from Christchurch to Lake Pukaki was that the heavy rains in early December had caused floods, landslides, and destroyed roads throughout the country. On our first long drive, we were redirected multiple times from the highway onto private gravel roads because of this. So as we approached Mount Cook, we saw for the first time the beautiful side of the fallen masses of water, all the mountain peaks shining pure white from the fresh snow.

Shortly after, the disappointment came again at the Visitor Center. Without snowshoes, ice axes, GPS receivers, and knowledge of avalanches, it was strongly advised against taking the planned route to the Mueller Hut summit... That's what you call being without options...

So we got our $90 lodging fee back and instead followed the advice of the friendly Visitor Center employee to visit the nearby unmanaged 'White Horse Hill Campsite' and start two half-day hikes from there.

Of course, we were not the only ones with that idea, the campsite was quite full, but we eventually found a cozy spot among our Canadian, Japanese, and French neighbors.

The first 'half-day hike' didn't quite live up to its name, it was more of a leisurely three-hour walk, completely flat and even apart from a few suspension bridges, amidst larger Asian tour groups (welcome to the peak season :-)... In shorts and sneakers, enjoying the 25-degree Celsius temperature in the shade, we strolled leisurely to the turning point, the glacial lake of Mount Cook.

Once there, we immediately made use of the cooling properties of the few degrees cold lake: not only can you cool yourself down within seconds, but you can also bring a 30-degree warm canned beer to a reasonable drinking temperature within minutes. So we enjoyed the beautiful view of Mount Cook with a cool beer before leisurely walking back and ending the day with (freeze-dried) spaghetti Bolognese.

The next day, we intended to follow the planned route to Mueller Hut as far as possible. With sunny weather and summer temperatures once again, we set off with significantly fewer hikers on the path of 1200 very uneven steps, and our hiking poles and mountain boots got the chance to show what they're capable of on New Zealand soil. The staircase was indeed exhausting (even without the originally planned backpack on our backs), and when we sat on the first peak after nearly two hours and 600 meters of elevation gain, looking at the snowy scree field that would have been our further hiking trail, we were actually quite glad we didn't even attempt to climb to Mueller Hut. With a picnic (liquid peanut butter in packets is available here...) and spring water, we enjoyed the view before descending again, packing our stuff into the car, and heading to our next stop, the town of 'Dunedin'.