Lake Ohau to Lake Pukaki & the Hooker Valley

Tuesday 17 February

A blustery night by the canal - we woke & watched the ducks & gulls across at the salmon farm.

Russ had work to for the morning and Louis wanted to work on some video footage, so Nickie & I went off exploring. Got as far as the Ōmarama Clay Cliffs turning only to discover it was closed due to road upgrades. So we doubled back and headed to Lake Ōhau instead. It was cloudy and grey but the sausages of cloud around the lake were fabulous.

Driving up to Lake Ōhau - the clouds lay in ribbons along the lakeshore and drifted up the valleys. We stopped at the base of the Lake looking up to the north. The lupins had died off since Banjo's last visit, but loved these vipers bugloss flowers, but not as much as the bees. Some of them appear to get drunk on the nectar and spend ages clinging drowsily to the flowers! The wild pink roses had done flowering and were now bent low with glorious russet red roe hips. Also a few wilding apple trees were in fruit - mmm, apple & rose hip jelly!

Popped up to Ōhau Lodge for a cup of tea on the balcony - English Breakfast for her and Earl Grey for me - and met a lovely Dutch guy called Jos who was walking large parts of the Alps2Ocean Trail.

Popped into use the facilities - the oldest most fabulous bathrooms - no modernisation here! Original Edwardian I reckon! The soap was loaded onto a spike above the basin - never seen anything like this before, but I guess it prevents it going walkabout!

Back at Ōhau B we packed up and convoyed across to Lake Pukaki and followed the road to Glentanner, about halfway up to Aoraki National Park. Checked in right on the dot of 2pm and managed to get ourselves adjacent powered pitches on a fairly flat space.

After a quick lunch, Russ drove us up to the carpark at the start of the Hooker Track and we joined the throngs heading out to the lookout just before the second bridge which is still under construction. It was pretty damp and chilly up in the mountains - we were all wrapped up like it was winter! I bought my pink scarf in a Hokitika op shop and was planning to store it until winter... but no, it's been working hard already and it's still summer. 😦 It was also very pleasing that Russ' rain jacket blended so well with the greeny grey waters of the glacier lake.

We crossed the first bridge, waiting patiently for space as there is a 20 person limit; Seems like it was a wise move for me to get a long shot of the other three crossing - apparently the guys just can't behave in photos!!!

Fortunately, as we reached the Mueller Lake lookout point, the clouds cleared enough for us to see some of the glaciers on Mt Sefton, and the lower slopes of Aoraki on our way back. It was fascinating watching the choppers flying supplies up to the team working on the new bridge up the valley - the last one got washed away in winter storms. We also heard quite a few glacial avalanches cracking in the mountains above us, but it was too cloudy to see anything.

By the time we headed back, the views down the valley towards Lake Pukaki had begin to open up as the clouds rose. We detoured to check out the Alpine Memorial - mostly to men who have died in these mountains. Do women not climb? Or are they just better at asking for directions? Discuss!

The Fernandi cooked us pork steaks for dinner then because it was Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day I got out the trusty Delia Smith recipe and made pancakes for all - yum! Then it was an early night with a big walk planned for 75% of us first thing in the morning.