Day 4 - Mount Cook National Park

After a truly fabulous breakfast prepared by our enchanting hosts Stephanie and Alistair, we were ready for some great adventures. Stephanie strongly advised against SUP boarding (too cold or no rental available) and suggested Mount Cook National Park instead. She recommended we hike a trail called Hooker Trail, which made me curious and I had to ask about the name again. It was confirmed. Alright. So off we went and once again marveled at the magnificent landscape here, which is simply incredible, phenomenal, and beautiful. After a good hour, we arrived and started trekking. Eventually, we actually ended up on the Hooker Trail, but couldn't figure out why it's named that way. It was a well-trodden path that we had to share with many tourists from all over the world. Like at Stachus, my husband said, who had never been to Stachus, but chose the right description. We walked 6 km until we reached a glacier lake and Mount Cook came closer and closer. We sat there in awe, off the beaten path, and admired one of the most beautiful peaks in the world. Mount Cook is 3724 m high and is thus the highest mountain in New Zealand. Many people have lost their lives trying to climb it. On the way back, my shoes started to hurt a little, but we still went to the Tasman Glacier and walked to the lookout point. Unfortunately, this is where the full extent of the climate catastrophe becomes apparent. The huge glacier has already lost an immense amount of ice. It loses 700 m per year. That's not good.

Tomorrow we'll continue from here... stay tuned.