We left our bed and breakfast in Lake Tekapo after a hearty breakfast. It took us around 2 hours to get to the start of the Hooker Valley Track, with a few stops along the way to take some photos. We just couldn’t get enough of the South island landscape.
It was so hard not to make a few stops along the drive to Hooker Valley track. We stopped by Lake Pukaki to enjoy the views of the mountains in the distance.
Hooker Valley track is one of the most popular walks in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand’s South Island. Mount cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand and has one of the longest glaciers. It is also famous for representing the Lonely Mountain in the Hobbit trilogy of movies. The walk is fairly short and flat at only 5km one way (10km return). It can be walked by people with a range of level of fitness. It was hard not to stop every few metres to take a photo!
The whole track is picturesque. You walk past stunning mountain ranges, old huts and glacier water rivers. At the end of your 5km walk, you are treated to a impressive unobstructed view of Mount Cook, floating ice broken away from Hooker Glacier and access to the shores of a glacier lake. We started our walk from the carpark mid morning and arrive at the end of our 5km walk around lunch time. It was probably one of the more peaceful meals we had. Munching on a simple sandwich amongst other walkers and hikers who were also enjoying the view of the mountains.
The whole walk took us around 5 hours at a relatively relaxed pace and a lunch break at the end of the 5km walk. You can easily do the walk in 3 or 4 hours if you’re a fast walker. However the beauty of this track is that it’s so picturesque that you really do want to take your time to take in the sights and the fresh air. For some reason I also really loved the suspension bridges and I had the opportunity to photograph quite a few of them.
As many say, it will feel like you’re having the best sandwich ever when you finally settle in for lunch at the end of your hike.
By the time we made our way back to the car park it was mid afternoon. We still had another 2.5 hours drive to Lake Wanaka where we were staying for the night. However before we made it to our accommodation for the night, we still had two more stops to make along the way.
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Thanks for stopping by today.
Your friend, Janice
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