After our time in Fiordland National Park, we spent a brief few days checking out the southern coast’s Nugget Point lighthouse, city of Dunedin, and Moeraki Boulders. But we were eager to return to the majestic views of snow capped mountains, and thankfully the next stop on our itinerary was Mount Cook National Park. We stopped in Twizel to fill up on gas and stumbled upon a small bakery. Our first meat pie experience had delighted our taste buds so we couldn’t resist trying more! We ordered up a steak and cheese pie and a boysenberry crumble tart. Absolute heaven in our mouths! The tart’s buttery crust was so good we just had to circle back after leaving the park to try the other flavors. Anyway, back to nature… as we left Twizel we approached the gorgeous Lake Pukaki. The crystal clear water was a stunning combination of turqiouse and aqua blue topped with a magnificent backdrop of Mount Cook. While in the park, we hiked two different trails, the Hooker Valley Track and the Sealy Tarns Track. The Hooker Valley Track took about an hour and a half each way and was mostly flat which we greatly appreciated after the Roy’s Peak hike we did in Wanaka. The trail ended at the Hooker Lake which had floating icebergs from the nearby Hooker Glacier. The next day, Sealy Tarns hike was a bit more difficult. Two-thousand steep stairs ascended all the way to the top which took us about an hour and a half of huffing and puffing. Our legs might have been shaking a bit, but no worries, the view was 100% worth it. As you can see from the photos below, Kyle’s shots of the mountain reflections in the Sealy Tarns are “sweet as”!
Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook
Lupin flowers by Lake Tekapo
The Hooker Valley Track
Mount Cook and the Hooker Glacier
Sealy Tarns (pools)
