Travel Notes: Aoraki / Mount Cook — Day 12
Onward to Mt. Cook
29 October 2005
Dear Family & Friends,
Today was our “Rock & Roll Road Show,” as Toni called it.
We left Dunedin this morning under gray, overcast skies and drove north along the Pacific (east) coast to see the Moeraki Boulders. These are nearly perfect stone spheres resting on a flat beach. It’s as if a giant dropped his bag of marbles and forgot to pick them up.
Some of the boulders are split open, revealing their insides. Those looked like an alien burst out of the middle to boldly go where no alien has gone before—leaving his spaceship behind.
Next, we stopped in Oamaru, the heart of limestone country, as evidenced by the many buildings in town constructed from it. Quaint and quiet, Robin remarked it wouldn’t be a bad place to raise ten kids. Who knows—maybe he will!
Lunch was in Omarama, another charming little town with good, inexpensive food—and yet another gift shop. This is also the place to call ahead to see whether flights are running at Mount Cook. The lunch report was iffy, but Toni wisely decided to reserve judgment until we arrived. As a group, we sent out all the positive energy we could muster for clear weather.
Our first glimpse of Aoraki / Mount Cook came at Peter’s Lookout—and we learned the power of positive thinking. We could see the summit!
Breathtaking. Stunning. Awesome. Once again—words are inadequate.
After a jubilant photo stop, we boarded the big yellow bus and headed to the helicopter base. There, we dropped off three paying guests. Toni asked if Michelle and I might join them, but the helicopter operator declined a FAM flight for us. So… back on the bus we went, and onward to the ski planes.
At the ski plane base, the operator was very happy to take two tour managers-in-training up for the experience of landing on a glacier. Along with four tour guests, we boarded an eight-passenger, single-engine plane—with skis instead of wheels—and took off.
WOW.
The ski plane needs very little runway to lift off, which is good—because there isn’t much room on a glacier! After a short flight through the mountains, we were this close to the summit of Mount Cook.
Snow-covered peaks rose all around us, with glacier fields nestled between them. We flew toward the Tasman Glacier, and the pilot brought us low enough to skim the ice before lifting us skyward again. It turns out this was a test run to check landing conditions.
Then he turned the plane around—and we landed on the glacier.
Everyone out! We tromped around, threw snowballs at each other, took pictures, and Michelle and I made snow angels. 🙂
All too soon, we were back aboard, taking off from a glacier at 6,000 feet. We flew past the summit of Mount Cook with clear, cloudless views across the Southern Alps, and then returned to the airfield.
Incredible.
Tonight, after dinner, I watched the sunset reflect off the face of Mount Cook. I lingered in the chilly alpine air, soaking in the view until darkness finally shrouded the mountain.
The plan is to be up early to see the sunrise. I’ll let you know if I make it.
More later!
Love to all,
TJ
P.S. “Rock & Roll Road Show” = two stops for rocks, then we roll on to Mount Cook (the big rock). Tour Manager humor—groan!