Last week, after leaving Christchurch, I drove south for about 4 hours to Aoraki National Park. It was very grand. The last hour of the drive was beautiful cuz you can see Aoraki (or Mount Cook, as the Europeans called it) from far away, and as you keep driving towards the town, you get closer and closer to the mountain. Aoraki stands almost 4,000 meters tall (that's over 12,000 feet!) The day I arrived, I hadn't planned on doing any walks until the next day. But when I arrived, the sun was out and the sky was clear. The forecast called for clouds and rain the following day. So the guy at the info center suggested I get out there on that day. So at about 3:30 in the afternoon, I set out on a 3 hour return walk along Hooker Valley. During the second half of the walk you get great views of Aoraki. Here are some pictures I took on my walk. The first two pictures show Aoraki clearly.
Besides the Hooker Valley walk, I didn't do much while I was there. Just relaxed and started preparing for the Routeburn trek. The town located in Aoraki National Park is pretty small. Or maybe it just seems small because the buildings look so tiny compared to the huge mountains surrounding the area. The hostel I was staying at looked like an ant next to the huge mountains. It was quite cool.
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