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NZ 2015: Experience with Hooker...Valley
posted : Sunday, January 31, 2016
Another place I pretty much enjoy.
Left Queenstown pretty early, aim is to get Fergburger for breakfast. Which turned out to be brunch of sorts - our next proper meal was dinner.
Stopped by Arrowtown first which was about 20minutes drive from Queenstown. Very vintage old town that reminds me of some old Western cowboy-ish town. Had our burgers in a green space, walked around a bit, popped by the Chinese Settlement.
Fergburger take 2. Has the fish burger this time.
Quaint old town.
Where to next?
 
Can't remember the Chinese guy who used to stay here.
I am not sure if they managed to preserve this 春联 for a few centuries.
Plan was to make a pit stop at Twizel (think of it as the foot of the mountain) before heading to Mount Cook proper, to get groceries and refuel. But passed by Kawarau Bridge not too long after Arrowtown and decided to go down to watch people bungee jump too heh. 
Kawarau Bridge
Drive to Twizel took about 3 hours. Got groceries, plan was to have Fettucine Carbonara with bacon and asparagus (Sam's very specific recipe) and bought extra bacon coz apparently it was really cheap, according to Sam. Hadn't been keeping track of how much each item costs lol. Then tried to pump petrol at one of the cheaper petrol kiosks which doesn't have staff - but couldn't figure out how to get our credit cards to work because we had no idea our credit cards came with PIN numbers #fail. Had to go back to one of the more conventional ones - where we discovered BlockHedz hahaha.
Onwards to Mount Cook! Scenery along the drive along Lake Pukaki was one of the best I have seen.
View from the backseat
Lake Pukaki
Checked in to Mount Cook Lodge. It's a backpackers hostel converted from a hotel - imagine hotel rooms without the beds but with double decker beds. So it comes with ensuite toilets too. And the kitchen is former hotel kitchens with huge industrial sized fridges and a freezer room -.- Given the background, can't expect it to be very backpacker friendly - the mattress is terrible - but I suppose they tried. 
Mt Cook Lodge!
 
The interior.
Oh yea we also had a roommate who basically slept through the entire time we are there. He woke up to shower, and had dinner, then came back and slept some more. -.-
Headed out to Hooker Valley Track! Hadn't been on a proper track since Okarito I think and this one is supposed to take 4 hours return woohoo. Cut short by an hour coz we started from the camping ground rather than the village (where all the hostels and Hermitage Hotel are located) itself. Things to see include the three suspension bridges on the way to the glacier lake at the end of the track.
Started at about 3.30pm. In perfect sunny windy weather. Probably kind of late coz along the way there were lots of people returning from the track already. Track itself is manageable coz there isn't much gradient changes. It's just a long track, that's all.
Setting off!
Some memorial at the beginning of the track
Resting point
Bridge #1
Bridge #2
The end...is so far.
Always like these wooden tracks
Bridge #3
Blissfully unaware that dark clouds were stalking us. Sigh. Had gone too far by the time we realize and decided to just head towards the lake anyway. 
Lake at the end!
Quick snap a photo and get out of here the rain is coming
And it started drizzling about 10 minutes into our return journey. And drizzled all the way back. At one point it was hailing even which was both fascinating and worrying at the same time. Sigh. At least it wasn't exactly pouring/thunderstorms but still enough to leave us shivering in cold. Sam said she couldn't even move her fingers properly and wondered how I still managed to drive.
Went back for a hot shower and cooked dinner. There was also supposed to be star gazing at night but canceled due to the rain sigh. Pity. It's supposed to be really awesome, we didn't booked any tour and intended to just find a spot to sit down and gaze on our own, but oh well. And settled for our card games in ou room which was also cut short coz roomie returned and said wanted to sleep.
Dinner cooked in a hotel kitchen
Up early for cup noodle breakfast hahah. And that's about it for Mount Cook! There's lots more to offer actually like helihikes and all, but we didn't opt for these. Checked out, and set off to our next destination!
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