Day 7 – The Trail Opens

We woke up to the most incredible weather! Sun shining, blue skies, bright white snow over the mountains – night and day to what we experienced yesterday. As much as that is salt in the wound of missing our glacier tour yesterday, we are now given the challenge to make the most of it! I am keen to get back to Hooker Valley and trek that trail we missed out on yesterday! Much to Drew’s dismay, I am bouncing off the walls! 

Back down the same route as yesterday, but it could have been a completely new place with how different it felt! With the sun out there was so much to see. The mountains were out and stunning, the fields vibrant and full of animal life that was missing yesterday. It was such a peaceful drive to the trail head. 

The Hooker Valley trail walk is one of the most popular walks in all of New Zealand, and after walking it today I completely understand why that is. The walk itself is pretty beginner friendly with an elevation of only about 80m over 5km which we were able to do in about 3 hours return. It was a fun walk with ever changing terrains and views, and a variety of walking conditions with paths made of gravel, wooden boardwalks and even 3 suspension bridges. 

It was exhilarating, walking over frozen puddles and raging glacial runoff, but none of it compared to what we were making our way towards at the end of the trail.

At the end you have one final incline to scale before you are welcomed by the Hooker Lake and its many icebergs, blue waters and view of Aoraki (Mount Cook). I have no words… just look at this.

We stayed here with this view making use of the mindful time for about 30 minutes before making our way back to the car. It was an easy walk, but definitely still a hike, but with absolutely fantastic reward. 

We set our GPS to Peter’s Lookout next. This is another magnificent viewpoint of Aoraki and Lake Pukaki’s turquoise waters. We only stopped briefly before jumping back in the car to head to High Country Salmon Farm, which is a stop that came highly recommended for a feed of some of the freshest salmon sashimi in the world. 

We’ve had an incredibly large day already, and have a few big days coming up, so once we had our fill of salmon, we headed back to the accommodation to rest up. I caught up on blogs and had the most glorious nap, then we got some supplies from the local 4 Square supermarket and readied ourself for tonights adventure. Where we’re staying in Twizel is part of the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, and I have been very eager to try my hand at some astro photography. We drove about 10 minutes out of town to a small lookout that would typically show views of Aoraki, but when we pulled up to the pitch black spot, turned off all lights from the car and looked up, we were greeted with the most impressive sky full of stars that I have ever seen! Straight up you could see the milky way with the naked eye! When my eyes fully adjusted, I set up my camera and enjoyed the process.

It was about freezing temperatures though, and despite wearing every item of warm clothing I brought with me on this trip, I only had a short time before my sore fingers were screaming for the warmth of the car, or better yet, bed.