We almost missed out the return to Mount Cook, thinking that we saw the tallest mountain from the west coast when we were at the Fox/Franz Josef glaciers, and what’s the point of seeing it from the other side? It’s a good job we did come back, the view from the east is most definitely the better side.
The drive up passed by the turquoise blue glacial lakes which contrasted nicely with the autumnal orange trees. There were a few wisps of cloud hiding the peaks of the Mount Cook range as we drove up the huge glacial valley to the base of Mount Cook. It’s hard to imagine a glacier so large that it could fill the width and height of the valley, nevermind stretch more than 50km back to the mountains. Rounding the final bend we were treated to the face of a mountain with four glaciers clinging to the almost vertical rocks. It certainly is good to be back in glacier country again, although first call was the visitor centre to get more woolly clothing and have some hot chocolate!
The DoC campsite was literally walking distance to the Mueller Glacier, the second largest in New Zealand. (as I found out by accident after going for a short stroll, not something you expect!) So, unsurprisingly it was fairly cold that night, and as it’s the DoC, there’s no electricity to be leaving the fan heater on all night to keep warm!