Approaching Mt. Cook

From Lake Tekapo we drove on to Mt. Cook village and the DOC White Horse campground there, where we would spend the next few nights.

After some miles, you round a bend and there, above Lake Pukaki,
wreathed in glaciers, is Mt. Cook, the greatest of the Southern Alps

Upper bits: what appears to be the summit, on the right, is actually
the beginning of a kilometer-long knife-edge leading to the summit,
the bump in the middle (click to enlarge)

Many glaciers emanate from Mt. Cook, most famously the Franz
Josef and Fox glaciers, on the west side; here, another descends
nearly to the valley floor

The White Horse campground sits below Mt. Sefton and a whole
line of hanging glaciers

Thus

Thus

And thus

All falling under enveloping clouds as the day proceeded; we'd
be marching right past them the next day as we hiked Hooker
Valley

Lake Tekapo And Ascent Of Mt. St. John

We proceeded on to the hamlet of Lake Tekapo, located at the south end of the immense and beautiful alpine lake, and spent the night at the holiday park there (Kiwi for campground). Unless you're a boatie, there is little to do here except walk the two block tourist area, rest, reorganize, do the wash, shower, and climb nearby Mt. St. John, all of which we did. Then you drive on toward Wanaka and Queenstown or up to Mt. Cook, which we also did. Interestingly, we stayed at this same holiday park in Lake Tekapo in 2014, almost the same day of the year, and it was 30 degrees F that night (in a tent!), with a gale the next morning. This time it was sunny and warm, temps in the 70s. Mt. St. John is a 300m climb with an university observatory and cafe on the summit.

Mt. St. John's, observatories, etc.

Rock love seat on the trail up Mt. St. John's

A bit of the observatory campus with the bigger Southern Alps
in the background

Looking up the expanse of Lake Tekapo

The village of Lake Tekapo

Your are here

Another big lake on the other side, looking toward Mt. Cook

Us, there

After the descent, and some provisioning at the excellent Four Square in Lake
Tekapo, we drove 15+k up the corrugated gravel east-side road--memories of
Namibia!--and free-camped by the lake

Thus

And enjoyed a great Kiwi sunset

It was a moon-less and nearly cloud-less night, and we stayed up well past our
usual bed-time to see the southern sky; alas, the photo does not at all convey what
we saw, pretty much the best night sky ever, for us

The Big Tree In Peel Forest

Not far from Arundel is Peel Forest, another DOC reserve, protecting an ancient stand of native trees. (Much of New Zealand, like everywhere else, was logged to near extinction in the latter 19th century). The place felt quite buggy (rain forest?), and we had misplaced our field guide to Gondwana flora (look it up), so we contented ourselves with a short walk to see the largest tree still standing on the South Island, an immense Totara.

It is known scientifically as "Big Tree"

Vicki stands for scale

Not all that tall, actually

Informative signage

Environs

The South Island has any number of deer and elk ranches; they
are raised for export of venison and elk meat (elkison?) to
Germany, where gamey meat is apparently prized; we passed dozens
of such ranches and here found one herd of elk close enough to shoot,
so to speak; in Montana, a scene like this would stop hearts

Rakaia Gorge, 2018

Our route toward Lake Tekapo took us past Rakaia Gorge, a bit of which we walked in 2014. This time, despite intermittent rain, we walked a bit more, although I can't say the views change or improve much. More impressive than the little gorge is the river itself, now in mid summer flow, carrying tons of glacial flour and other debris down from the big mountains to the west. After Rakaia, we shopped a bit in the pretty village of Methven and then carried on to a DOC campground named Arundel. Arundel was founded in 1067 by Roger de Montgomery, one of William's pals, and has for the past 900 years been the traditional stronghold of the Dukes of Norfolk. Wait; no....

Typical DOC signage; if nothing else, New Zealand is very well signed

The river

Massive old tree, undercut to hold two sizable shelters

Environs

Glacial flour

We walked on another 30 minutes or so

These two trees must have been oozing sap or something; both
were covered with buzzing
honey bees

Big sand and gravel beach

Rooby at Arundel; that's Vicki's yellow poncho drying out

Not a long white cloud, but just enough to catch a bit of rainbow from the west

Arthur's Pass

There were a couple short hikes we might have taken at Arthur's Pass, but we were generally underwhelmed, and, having seen the Pass, we reversed back east to head for Lake Tekapo and Mt. Cook, much more spectacular country.

Helpful models in the Arthur's Pass visitor center

Ditto

Top of the pass heading down west

Interestingly, the west side was studded with Pohutukawa trees
in bloom

Aka the Metrosideros Excelsa

Aka the New Zealand Christmas Tree

At the Pass, a monument to Arthur Dobson, the surveyor who
recommended the pass for an east-west road; the Maori had
told him about it; we were hoping for a small castle, maybe a
round table, some jousting...

The Pass's current residents...Kea, the famed New Zealand
alpine parrot (not to be confused with the Norwegian Blue)

In flight

We'll see more of them further south

There were some nice waterfalls in the area

But we were ready to move on

First Bite

On the west side of the island, one expects to fall victim to sand flies, whatever the precautions. So it was particularly disheartening to get my first bite of the campaign on Bealey's Track, well east of Arthur's Pass. It was a textbook case. I was wearing long pants and long sleeves and gloves and a hat and had even sprayed my neck and face. The fly got me just between the sleeve and my glove. First the sting, then the itching, the swelling and whelping, and soreness, and then...three weeks of itching. See illustration. The South Island has a lot going for it for people to put up with these pests.

Time to start marinating in DEET