The beginning of this day was hampered by a historically bad weather event overnight, continuing on into this morning. The headline read “Mount Hutt records 224 km/h winds before station stopped responding”. Canterbury, where we were staying, saw the worst of it, but thankfully we were unscathed. Traveling up to Aoraki / Mount Cook as intended was going to be a gamble, however, since they still had very poor weather that morning.

Aoraki / Mount Cook

But call me Kenny Rodgers, because gamble we did. The road up was extremely limited in visibility — the opposite shore of Lake Pukaki was barely visible — but we struggled against the winds to reach Mount Cook Village by lunch. After a brief stop, we took on the Hooker Valley track, at which point the weather cleared as if by a miracle. From there, we enjoyed not only great scenery, good photography, but also an absence of (other) tourists who had not yet made their to the tracks with the newly-cleared weather.

The Mount Cook range, still obscured by the morning’s clouds.

The haze made for some truly moody shots.

Hooker Valley Track

Stopping to change film rolls (those photographs will come in time!) gave a nice shot of some native bush through the Hooker Valley.

One cute little bird braves the last of the rain over Freda’s Rock.

The first of many landscape shots down the Hooker Valley. As can be seen, the clouds are burning away, leaving some actually sunlight and some interesting shadows!

The Hermitage and Mount Cook Village below a lit mountain.

Snow-capped peaks of the Mount Cook range have some great contrast. I’m hoping the similar shots on film come out nicely.

Our first portrait of the day, backed by the Alpine Memorial.

And now from the other side, looking down the valley.

Ripples in the lake (okay, it’s actually a puddle on the track left over from last night’s storm).

Sneaky photography shot — nice flora in the foreground and the stunning mountainside blurred in the back.

The clouds are clearing up! And now we get more details on the mountain ranges.

Photo bomb.

He seems pleased with his work.

She doesn’t.

Lovely! The sun finally came out!

And yeas, this is Jack sitting where he shouldn’t once more.

As we approach the first swing bridge, Muller Lake comes into view. The blue was stunning, and did not come across on camera!

And that swing bridge really was swinging.

The start of the Hooker river was thundering after the rains last night. I tried to get a good shot of both the river’s wrath and the scale of the channel, but it was difficult. I think this was the best shot of the bunch, and captures the cool, cool feeling of the site. And the biting wind. Dear lord, then wind.

Looking back from the first swing bridge, back to the Hermitage. The hotel itself is imposing, so to see it dwarfed is pretty incredible.

And now walking back, the group is happy!

Contrast these shots with teh start of this section and see just how much the weather cleared in the hour-and-a-half we spent out here.

We could go no further than the first swing bridge, as the track was washed out in a slip late 2024. Still, this walk was well worth it!

Tasman Glacier / Blue Lakes

Heading down the Tasman Valley (since the weather was so good) we get some more beautiful shots of Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park.

The Blue Lakes are decidedly less blue than expected, both because of the intense rain the night before and also the immense retreat of the Tasman glacier. Blue typically indicated glacier-fed waters, but this green is from warmer, rain-fed waters that can support microscopic algae growth. Sad, but still beautiful!

Some nice portraits of the group at the Blue Lakes!

I swear she was happy to be there.

Ah, and unfortunately the photographer was told to get in the frame.

But you can’t forget the backup-camera!

Headed up to the Tasman Glacier lookout, including a nice shot over the Tasman Lake. Unfortunately the aforementioned retreating glacier is barely visible here, just the tiny sliver seen at the foot of the far mountain.