Stairway to heaven

Last night we took a closer look at our map. Luckily, because we almost drove further south along the coast when we had marked a highlight inland. We head to Mount Cook in the Southern Alps. Just getting there was crazy. For kilometers through the vast landscapes until you can slowly see the mountain range in the distance, which is getting bigger and bigger. All the large campsites up here are fully booked and we hope that there is still something available on the Freecamper. Although it is quite late, there is still enough space, which may be due to the incredible size of the campsite. It's still about 60 kilometers away from Mount Cook, which doesn't want to show itself to us today. But the next morning. We drive to the tourist village, where there is an information center, hotel, etc. and all the hiking trails begin. For today, two short walks to the glacier lake and river are enough for us, with a view of the Tasman Glacier tongue. You can go kayaking or boating up to the tongue here, but for us the view from a distance is enough. It's crazy how "dirty" it looks and only if you look closely can you see the ice underneath. Several pieces of ice can also be seen floating in the lake and there is a warning that high waves can occur if something breaks off from the glacier tongue. The view is incredibly beautiful and we actually don't know which direction the view is more fascinating, of the glacier or of the endless expanses. In the evening we see a really beautiful sunset and later a very clear starry sky with a view of the Milky Way and I even see a shooting star. So beautiful that we even set an alarm for the middle of the night because we think the stars must be even more beautiful to see. However, that wasn't the case and we are exhausted in the morning because of the interrupted sleep. A 2200-step “hike” is planned for today. Maren has a real pace today, I can't keep up with that. She goes forward and I go up step by step. The view becomes even more beautiful with every step you take and the effort is worth it. Maren is sitting at the end of the stairs, waiting for me and I carefully ask: "Was that already?". There is a sign pointing to a viewing platform and an arrow pointing up. We are very confused and think that we can't be finished yet because we were also 45-60 minutes faster than originally planned. A group of three came towards us and the woman, who was exhausted, was incredibly happy that they had arrived. I smile at her sympathetically and tell her that they are not there yet and there is still more to do. You could really see the desperation on her face. So we continue along the path, which is now rubble and rocks. We keep thinking to ourselves that none of this can be entirely right. Nowhere did it say that things continue like this after the steps. However, we know that there is another route to the Mueller Hut that takes about an hour longer. When we see a red hut in the distance, we realize that we just continued on the other way. However, we are very happy about it, because the landscape and the views have really changed again. We keep hearing and seeing snow and rock avalanches, very impressive but also frightening. And I didn't think it, but I'll also see snow this season. After a three-ball snowball fight, I can now check those off the list. The descent goes faster than expected and at the end our knees are actually shaking because of half the steps. By the way, we counted up to 1000 steps because we couldn't quite imagine that there were really 2200 stairs. Maren always counts to 50 and then I count to 50 and 100 and it could be about right. In the evening we have another beautiful sunset, but we're skipping a nighttime star alarm clock today. But I leave my curtains open to fall asleep and even see two shooting stars again. What a way to end this truly breathtaking, beautiful piece of earth. In the morning we drive a bit back to Lake Tekapo, take a toll road to a viewing platform/observatory. There we drink the most expensive coffee of our trip and drive further into civilization. We urgently need to wash, clean the bus and shower with soap. The last few days there was “only” a daily swim in the 16 degree cold lake.