Lake Pukaki, Twizel & Mount Cook

Boxing Day saw us driving to Lake Pukaki where, 8 years ago Len had just about driven off the road when we rounded a corner and were struck by the most awesome view of the turquoise lake and Mount Cook, which is the tallest mountain in NZ at 12,316 feet, glistening with snow at the far end. This time it was a bit cloudier and there were white horses on the Lake but still quite beautiful. There is also a lot of traffic around at this time of the year with everyone heading to the Lakes for their Christmas holidays. Last time here we felt we had all the roads to ourselves!
We stopped for the night at the Southern end of Lake Pukaki in the free camping area between the lake and the trees after buying some local smoked salmon from the expensive tourist shop (I promise I won't do that again Len!)
Thursday we drove on to Twizel where we played golf on the local Ben Ohau course which is flat and parched with brittle brown stalks but it was pleasant to play with partial cloud and a gentle breeze. The Combined Services Club in Twizel was our free parking spot for the night with about 6 other motorhomes and we managed a couple of drinks in the club before dinner.
Today, Friday, has been busy-busy starting with a 3 hour+ bike ride along the Twizel River and back along the Ohau River Track. We thought that the Twizel River Track would take us to Lake Benmore but we could only see it in the distance beyond the 2 rivers and we decided that the first river was too deep to cross safely. The countryside is very brown and arid and the track variable but overall rutted and stony. At times I felt I was holding onto a jackhammer instead of my handlebars but we enjoyed the ride with the mountain views and the cloud cover which stopped the temperature getting too high.

Ohau River track

Lunch and a shower and then we were off up the picturesque western edge of Lake Pukaki which is 20 km long to Mount Cook village and then a couple of km more up Hooker Valley Road to the White Horse Hill DOC camping ground at the base of Mount Sefton. The camp has an ecclectic mix of many holiday makers - a mish-mash of tents, cars, campers and motorhomes. We have a couple of little tents about 2 feet from our back wheels (they did arrive after us!)
We thought the weather for the next few days looked very good but the lady in the Mt Cook info centre told us that there is heavy rain and thunder predicted for the next 2-3 days so we felt some urgency to get moving as soon as we got here so we could do at least one or two walks before the rain arrives. So at 4.30pm we set off at some speed on the 3 hour return walk to the Hooker Valley Lake and glacier which gives good views of Mt Cook and has a couple of long swing bridges over the milky glacier rivers. The glacier is receding quite quickly unfortunately but is still easy to see at the end of the lake. There were a couple of large icebergs broken off from it floating in the water.

Walking to Hooker Glacier, Mount Cook ahead

At the base of the walk there is a huge rock called Freda's rock in honour of Freda du Faur who was the first woman to conquer Mount Cook in 1903. She must have been an amazing person. There is also another memorial to all those who have perished on the mountain and there are a lot of names.