New Zealand, Mt. Cook

The only bad part about nature trips is your dependence on the weather conditions. Luckily, the weather treats me very nicely during this trip to New Zealand – Mt. Cook greets me with weather even nice than what was available this past summer. I am able to immerse myself in the beautiful views of Mt. Cook for two days in a row thanks to the weather conditions; Mt. Cook is quite known to disguise itself from the visitors due to poor weather conditions. Mt. Cook National Park is home to many different tacks that area easily reachable from the town center. This makes my life very easy, as I did not rent a car. I on my first day do the Kea Point Hike, which is a short but a partially a steep hike taking you to a turquoise colored lake. It is a very satisfying route for me on this first day which started early with the bus ride to Mt. Cook. Mt. Cook National Park, part of the area known as “Dark Sky Reserve” is surrounded by immense number of stars. The view is even more impressive than the Northern Lights that I had the chance to experience this past winter. Even though I know nothing about the star photography, I conduct a quick technical search on the net and try to photograph the stars for almost hours. The weather gets very cold in the evening making my winter coat never used during Australia part of my trip valuable. I get a very little sleep at night due to the excitement triggered by the night stars. The plan for the second day is to hike the famous Hooker Valley Track. The most fun part of the track is to walk over three different suspension bridges along the road. I am like a kid walking over the bridges numerous times. You feel the need to grab your camera at almost every second during the part of the track where you face Mt. Cook – such an easy flat track where the highest mountain of New Zealand – Mt. Cook watches over you. Mt. Cook is with no doubt the favorite part of my trip to New Zealand.