Awesome Aoraki National park

Wednesday 18 February

After a windy night, the day dawned cloudy but golden, with every chance that the sun would burn through.

Russ swapped his timings for the day so he and Louis could climb the Sealy Tarns track - 2200 stairs ascending to 1380m at the top of the range above the Mueller Glacier Lake. My knees ached just at the thought of all that, and Nickie was feeling tender from the Kepler Track walk so we left the boys to it, and tried to spot the micro-dots ascending the vast mountainous slope in what looked like fairly dense bush. If you zoom in on the rock & vegetation picture three below, they are in the bottom left corner just be the grey stream/rocks about 1/4 of the way in from the left! They were sent with a mission to take plenty of photos which they duly did and kept us updated on our WhatsApp group as they made their way to the top. From their height they were able to see beyond the moraine cliffs of the Mueller Glacier Lake to the Hooker Glacier Lake which is usually the end point of the Hooker track, and thence on to Aoraki - wow!

Nickie and I took the easy option with a gentle trek out to Kea Point. The views for all of us were stupendous as the clouds whirled, danced and finally peeled away to reveal Aoraki, Mt Cook in all her glory. It was quite busy up at Kea Point when we arrived - the track's popularity has increased while the Hooker Track is only partially in service as we await the new bridges. We bided our time and waited for the hordes to dissipate then just stood and marvelled at the wonderful vista over the Mueller Glacier Lake and up into the heart of the Southern Alps.

The glaciers on Mt Sefton roared their applause on & off through the morning and after filling our tanks Nickie & I set off for The Hermitage hotel as a pilgrimage for her and a chance for sustenance for me. The guys meanwhile were still sending regular reports and epic photos from their fabulous track. Turned out to be quite a trek across to the hotel, but we rewarded ourselves with a cup of tea and half a GF Chocolate brownie each as we sat on the terrace in the scorching sunshine. All the way there and back we were able to capture incredible views of Aoraki as the clouds parted and then swept around the peak - stunning! I was surprised to see that there were even a few late lupins still flowering in this high environment.

We met back at the car & headed back to Glentanner for lunch and got Russ to his 2pm meeting on time. I made us a delicious veggie frittata (though I say it myself) and we scoffed the lot!

After a siesta or two, Louis, Nickie & I set off along the road south to ooh & aah at the glorious colour of Lake Pukaki in the afternoon sun, leaving poor Russ tied to his laptop.

When the sun shines like this every view of Lake Pukaki is just stupendous - the glacial flour reflects an unreal shade, which offset against green paddocks looks like someone coloured in nature with fluorescent highlighter pens! The lake was pretty chilly, but none of us could resist a dibble for Debbie, though we did not go as far as the influencer we watched cavorting in the waters in front of her tripod camera!

It's hard to tear your eyes from Lake Pukaki - but the choppers taking off an landing at the heliport at Glentanner are fascinating. However, the cloudscape as the winds whipped around above us where even more amazing - lenticular patterns looking like 60s UFOs and wild painting brush strokes against the vibrant blue sky.

Louis decided to take a dip in the lake back at Glentanner while I prepped a Greek infused dinner of lamb kofta, haloumi, zucchini & tzatziki followed by sashimi for dessert!

We watched the clouds grow madder and funkier until the sunset and then the brightest stars popped out. Wow, another awesome day!