Its been done before, and it will be done again, but thats not the point. Yes NZ is a place of astronomical scale, beauty and wonder, but its also my place of birth. Something I hold dearly to my heart and consider myself very lucky to be able to truly call this stunning country home.
We went back to NZs jaw dropping South Island for another dose of winter goodness, but with a slightly different agenda to the usual bout of snowboard, beer, sleep, repeat.
This time I wanted to be a tourist in my own country, something I never thought I would have said 13 years ago when I embarked on my exploration of the world, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Now as I taste things differently so to speak, I am truly in awe of the country I couldn't wait to leave and have literally only scratched the very, VERY surface exploration in what is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world.
The funny thing about exploration is, the more you unearth, the deeper your desires seed to uncover, discover, and experience all the adventures you possibly can.
So without further ado, heres a little recollection of some of our time in Gods country this August of 2018.
Mt Cook National Park
Sunset at Hooker Valley lake
The nights are void of any light pollution
I couldn't even tell you how much there is to do in this remarkable part of the world, but I sure do hope to discover all there is to offer on each and every visit I make to this place, because I already can't wait to go back.
We stayed at the awesome Aoraki court motel, literally in the heart of Mt Cook national parks small village. **HOT TIP** you want to make sure you take all the food you want with you there because there are no real supermarkets unless you want to eat at the restaurants, personally, I was too exhausted from hiking to eat out!
Tasman Glacier
Sunset at Tasman Glacier
We spent 2 nights here in total so on night one we ventured off to Tasman glacial lake to experience our first sunset, and were given the hot tip from our hotel that there were many Icebergs in the lake, winning, kinda, as that means melting glaciers. Bittersweet beauty really. We ended up coming back for another sunrise here on our last morning too, that good!
Easy to find, a 10 min drive from the village and clearly signposted from the main road. The walk takes about 30 mins and is an easy trail, nice way to warm up those hiking legs for the more trails to come!
Hooker Valley track
Sunset at the foot Mt Cook
Hooker Valley track is no joke, not for how hard it is, but for its ability to literally place you smack bang in the mountains and make you feel like you have entered the remote wilderness of the Southern Alps. The track is super easy to find as it is 5 minutes from the village, again signposted off the main road. The walk takes 1.5 hours one way and crosses 3 epic suspension bridges and a tonne of changing terrain conditions from light bush, to black rocky cliffs, stunning river crossings, alpine tarns, and finally arriving at an enormous lake full of icebergs. We left at 5am to catch the sunrise, and boy were we not disappointed, just remember pack the right gear, when you stop hiking things get cold quick!!! We liked this place so much we came back again for sunset too! thats 38000 steps in one day. Safe to say we slept well that night!
The many faces of the track
Hooker Valley showing us how its done
Wanaka
She stands the test of time
With so so much to see and do, Wanaka is truly the gateway to adventure thats for sure! We stayed here for a week and got up to all sorts of goodness, from sunsets on the lake, snowboarding up at Cardrona, beers at amazing lakeside bars, gorgeous coffees to get you going and a whole bunch of photography and exploring.
We visited the tree on a few mornings and were just amazed at the different conditions we were lucky to encounter, I was even lucky enough to bump into some photography legends @mitchperfect @brentpurcell @kirtsy.tamatea doing their thing. Such epic photographers so go check em out (as if you haven't already)
The tree showing why its so popular
A different perspective
Amongst all the snowboarding and good times we had one thing looming over us, literally, Roys peak. See we've always wanted to get up here for a sunrise but for one reason or another, have not made it. Not this time. So on our last night we made breakfast the night before, set the alarm, and ventured off for a 3 am start.
3 hours and 1500 odd metres straight up this track is brutal, for brutals sake. Im not gonna lie, its tough and a real leg burner. Not trying to brag (I am) we charged the thing in 2 hours flat. Talk about hustle. and I'm pleased we did, because sunrise up there was something I will never ever forget. We hiked through cloud and arrived to a starry, starry night. As day broke the colours exploded and we were literally left looking out at the world from above the clouds. A moment well learnt and well enjoyed.
Above the clouds
Milford Sound
Sunset showing off
No small drive from Wanaka we set off for Milford sound to catch what looked to be a promising sunset, through mountainous roads, finding valleys and through the tunnel to the land of waterfalls we made our way to the 8th wonder of the world. We were treated to moody skies with unreal breaks in the cloud and this just made for one of the most surreal sunsets I have ever witnessed. We stayed in Te Anau so only had 1 sunset here, but man am I looking forwards to coming back here and exploring more of the region of Fiordland and experiencing as much as I can!
What a drive
Mossy rocks
Soo much to see
Last light
There is so so much more that we saw and did, but thats for another time . Safe to say I'm really happy with the effort we put in getting every sunrise and every sunset we could bar 1 or 2. The funny thing is I feel like this trip is just the recce for a whole new world of exploration that I am researching to undertake. Who ever thought I would become a tourist in my own country. Couldn't be happier:)