I had hoped to get up early to do a hike at dawn and get some shots of Mt Cook in the early morning sun. I got up at 6.30am and looked out. Heavy cloud and mist hung low in the valley. There was no chance of a shiot in these conditions so I went back to bed for another couple of hours. By 9am it was a lot better. I had a quick breakfast and dropped my rucksack into the luggage room as I would be checking out today to head back to Christchurch. I followed a trail on the opposite side of the valley I had hiked yesterday. This trail led to a viewing point which looked up onto Mt Cook. The summit was still shrouded by cloud but while I was at the viewing point it lifted and I was able to get a decent shot of the full extent of the mountain. It didn't last long though. More clouds soon rolled in and by midday the mountain was totally obscured by a bank of clouds. There were a good few hikers out on the trails again this morning. One thing that is very noticeable on the hikes in this country. The people are friendly. All the Kiwis say hello and are courteous on the trails. I used to get wound up in South America by hikers, all young Europeans, who brushed you aside and refused to acknowledge you. There are the odd instances of this here but, guess what?, they're young European backpackers. I really am starting to despise the ignorance of some of these travellers. By the way nobody under 25 knows how to close a door out here. It must be a generational thing.
Mt Cook is New Zealand's highest peak, standing at 2,719m. Named after Captain Cook it was spotted by one of his crew form his ship as he sailed around the south island. The original, Maori name is Aoraki, or, 'Cloud Piercer', as the summit normally stands clear above the cloudline. Edmund Hillary climbed Mt Cook and the peaks of the southern Alps before his successful ascent of Everest. A memorial to those who have died in these mountains sits in the middle of the valley and lists a surprisingly high number of names.
I was back, showered and fed in time for the 2.30pm bus back to Christchurch. The bus retraced the route of the previous two days. We listened to the same stories from a different driver, in reverse order. Most of the passengers on the bus today were Japanese and an interpreter relayed the stories through headsets which were provided for the non-English speakers. We get back to Christchurch around 7.30pm. With an early start tomorrow for the bus up to Picton I don't do much. After yesterdays culinary feats I decide to eat out for once and went for an Indian. A chicken Pasanda with naan bread and washed down with Bundaberg ginger beer, my new favourite drink of New Zealand. Awesome, no worries mate!!
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