Waking up before dawn, I left to go running to Kea Point in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park. With wild winds roaring around me and drops of rain pelting my face, I couldn't help from screaming I felt so exhilarated.
After returning, we had a huge buffet breakfast and then took off for a family hike back to Kea Point. From there, we had stunning views of the Mueller Glacier and the hanging glaciers and icefalls of Mount Sefton. Mount Cook remained mysteriously covered in clouds.
Kea Point is named after the kea, one of the few alpine parrots in the world. We saw keas at Willowbank, but here we experienced them in the wild.
We continued to soak up this spectacular alpine scenery on another hike over to the Hooker Valley. Amber and Ediza can be found on this swinging bridge that has pure glacier water flowing underneath.
I could see what attracted Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest, to use the Mount Cook area as a training ground for his Everest and Antarctic expeditions.
On our drive out of the park, I looked in the rear-view mirror to see the clouds had parted and the sun was exposing Mount Cook in all its glory. What a magical place!
1 comment:
Hi Mike , Amber & Ediza
I've really enjoyed reading about your experiences on the Blog - I tried to post comments a couple of times, but no luck (I typed in the'funny' letters, and all, still no go).
Anyway, just wanted to say that you certainly are making the most of your travels - I really enjoyed your description of running in the howling wind and pelting rain - what a Primaeval (spelling?) experience!!
(I get the same feeling when I'm on the bike, feeding out hay to the Llamas, in similar conditions in the wintertime. When the hayseeds get in my contact lenses I scream too!!)
Seriously, there's nothing quite like the wind in your teeth - especially when you come back to a warm livingroom and a hot drink.
We did enjoy having you at our place - the time went all too quickly.
I'm off to the hairdresser tomorrow, to get her to do something about my'white' hair! It's not really supposed to be that colour..I hate it! Maybe the camera lied?
Cheers
Janette
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