Tuesday 31st March 2026
Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Situated in the central Southern Alps, it has three peaks, the highest being 3,724 metres or 12,218ft above sea level. As we arrived yesterday at the southern end of Lake Pukaki, we could see Mount Cook in the distance beyond the northern end of the lake.
Even now, at the end of summer, the peak is covered in Snow.
We drove up the wide glacial valley beyond the lake. We planned to explore both branches of the valley and took the right-hand road towards Tasman Lake first. About half-way along the road, there is one of the many single-track bridges. This one is constructed of metal and particularly narrow with low, overhead steelwork, so I mentally “breathed in” to get across. When we arrived at the parking area at the end of the road, we discovered that we were far from the largest vehicle there as there was a single-decker bus.
There is quite a strenuous climb to the viewpoint, with a wooden stepped pathway all the way.
There were a number of icebergs floating in the lake, which looked small, but were in fact huge.
Returning back to the main road, we turned towards Aoraki / Mt Cook, then turned off again towards Hooker valley. At the head, there is a car park, camping ground and trail. Here, you can get a good view of Mt Cook:
We walked along the Hooker Valley Track towards the first swing bridge and Lake Müller, passing the Alpine memorial along the way.
The memorial commemorates those who have lost their lives here, a reminder that there is real danger in these mountains. A further reminder is afforded by the avalanche risk notice board:
Nearby, we found “Freda’s Rock” when commemorates the achievements of Emmeline Freda Du Faur, the first woman mountaineer to reach the summit of Mt Cook. She is pictured at the rock below, in 1910.
When we arrived at the first swing bridge, we were able to also see Lake Müller, beautiful in the sunshine:
The “swing bridge” was a steel rope suspension bridge which swayed and moved quite a bit when people walked across:
That is it for today. TTFN and see-u-later.
"See-u-Later" 