Ein Reise in verschiedene Welten - Travelling through mountains past lakes and brilliant nature

Finally, we made some plans. But what happens when we make plans? ... read here!

Plan 1: Let's go to Mt Cook.

And that's exactly where we went from Dunedin. From Dunedin, we drove past Oamaru, past the lakes Lake Benmore, Lake Avimore, and Lake Waitaki (although we already knew this area very well and had seen everything before, it's still impressive every time) towards Lake Tekapo, where we made a little stop. It wasn't actually on the route, but we knew that it's a detour that's worth it every time. And it was. Lake Tekapo has an attraction, exerted by its great location in the mountains and the beautiful nature that surrounds it, which can rarely be found anywhere else. You just feel like you're in a different world.

Lake Pukaki can keep up as well. Almost. Lake Pukaki is striking with its crazy color. And it must mean something when you can see it on Google Maps. A color like no other lake.

If you drive along Lake Pukaki down the lake, you reach the glacier landscape, which can already be admired from the other end of the lake. The Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, with its numerous glaciers, which are home to the Tasman Glacier, the largest glacier in New Zealand, as well as Mt Cook itself, gives this place a very special atmosphere. With a height of 3724m, Mt Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. After a drive with amazing views, we reached Mt Cook Village, which is located at the end of Lake Pukaki in the valley in front of Mt Cook. Even from there, you can catch a glimpse of Mt Cook in good weather. Unfortunately, luck was only partly on our side.

But first, we wanted to get some information at the Visitor Centre. It was also awarded as the best Visitor Centre in New Zealand. After taking a look inside the Visitor Centre, we knew why. Several exhibits showed the poems about Mt Cook and various attempts in the past to climb it. The Visitor Centre also included a small garden that is connected to the building and is well maintained with great care. From here, you also have a good view of Mt Cook.

With a few tips for nice short hikes in our pocket, we wanted to explore the area a bit more. But how could it be any different, away from any civilization, our car broke down again. You would think that the story couldn't get any more ironic, right? We were proven wrong the next day. After we had ordered a tow truck for the next morning, because otherwise we wouldn't have had any accommodation, we spent a night in the parking lot of the Visitor Centre. At least we were granted a view of Mt Cook the next morning.

When we arrived at the workshop the next morning, we were lucky that a mechanic had volunteered to look at our car himself, even though it was Saturday. The mechanic got into the car, turned the key, pressed the gas pedal all the way down, and the car started... let's just say we could travel fuel-efficiently and inexpensively from Mt Cook back to civilization. 'Free ride', pure irony. Since then, we have adopted the mechanic's trick in our repertoire ;)

With a working car, we could start our journey five minutes later. On to Plan 2, which was already threatening to fall apart. Once again, we realized that when you make plans, you have to hope for more luck than when you have no plans...

Plan 2: The Rees/Dart Track hike, 4 days in nature

Plan 2 took us back to Queenstown (which is already somewhat ironic). The Queenstown Lake District, the area around Queenstown, is known for a lot of action and adventure. But also for some of the best hiking trails in New Zealand. Whether day hikes or multi-day hikes, there is something for everyone here.

We also ventured into the woods. Our tour would take us past the riverbeds of the two glacier rivers Rees and Dart. The Rees, Dart Track is a multi-day hike that averages 4 to 5 days through nature along the two rivers. We took the starting point at the beginning of the Dart Track. The start is about a 3/4 hour drive on a gravel road from Glenorchy, which is at the end of Lake Wakatipu. From there, we started early Monday morning. From the Chinamens Carpark, the starting point of the track, we had a 5 hour hike ahead of us to the first hut, the Dayles Flat Hut.

We reached the hut early. But unfortunately with a not very good feeling, as I had gotten sick overnight. Hiking with a headache and fever is not really the right activity. That's why we decided to spend the next day relaxed on the hut and give me time to recover. The next morning, I already noticed that I felt better. Also, we had the hut to ourselves and could spend a relaxed day. Since this disrupted our plans for the hike and it wouldn't have made sense to spend three more days in the forest, we set off back to the car on the morning of the third day. As I was feeling much better now, we both could enjoy the day very much. Back in civilization, we first took a shower and had a good meal ;)

In the end, I have to say that it was a shame that we had to break off the hike, but definitely the more sensible decision. If the first day had been as good as the last one, we would have definitely continued! Nature is a world of its own, in which you could sink forever, and I believe that anyone who has seen it in New Zealand will agree with me.

But our plans continued when we were back from the forest. Next destination: Dunedin! Again? Yes, exactly, but this time there was a special reason why we drove back after we had already said goodbye. But read on in the next post. The program also includes leaving familiar areas and heading north along the West Coast.

Until then,

Your Luca