New Zealand - Day 7 - Aoraki/Mt. Cook

July 16, 2019

Woke up - Snow!  OMG - Not sure what that does for my hiking plans…. But shower… Eat…. And brag on Facebook that I'm in the LotR idyllic landscape. 

Then friend sends me a cat meme that has me rolling… But totally inappropriate for minors, so not posting here. 🤣😂🤣  But I totally LOLed… In cafe… Surrounded by much more proper & appropriate people. 

Look!  Kiwi & Coffee!.... Anyone else find it weird that we're referring to the people here as the same thing we eat?  I mean… Seems like it might send the wrong message….. 

Mmmm….. And they mixed up my coffee order… I only *ordered* one, but said “Oh, but I know you can't give it to anyone else…. And I'm American…I'll definitely drink it.“  I will guiltlessly play the bad ‘Merican angle if it gets me more coffee! 

Kids playing in snow is Universal…. And I wonder if these kids have ever seen snow… ItIt may be completely new depending on where in China they are from.  So many tourists here from China. Good proximity for them. But they usually look so cold! Not these kids…. They look so happy! Universal. 

Stopped by the store to tell the clerk how much I appreciated her recommendations on the hike for yesterday. She asked me "How did you like the lake?" Me: "There's a lake?!" Well, apparently I should have continued to down those extra little paths... But technically... I was at the top and NO signs said anything about LAKE.

Taking off on a hike with Jeanne and Jeannette (turns out they are twins - so now I understand the name similarities!), looks like this path puts us between the two lateral moraine. I'm hoping will get to see the lake I saw from the mountain yesterday.

Lots of pretty scenery with the snow. I don't like the over hanging and close shrubs down some of these paths. They're dripping water on us pretty badly.

Lots of little tributaries coming down from the melt water. Really lovely.

The campground is about 45 minutes from the hotel. Don't know weather we have time to make it the rest of the track. I don't think the bridge on the map was the first bridge.

Awesomeness glacier lake! 

video link - click here

Feet all squishy from walking though mushy snow.  Taking road back instead of path. A little longer walk, but should actually be quicker since we won't be fighting the snow or mud or shrubbery. (yes, had to get in “shrubbery”) 

Cutting cross country through this now... Is this a brilliant shortcut or is this the stupidest move ever? Only time will show.

Wet feet, wet shoes.  Found the laundry facilities at the hotel and got in 45 mins of drying before getting chased off by the maintenance headmistress - she's trying to explain that she is doing me a favor because the glue holding my soles on would melt & ruin my shoes - but I had put the drier on medium heat and my Merrills are not going to be killed by her drier.  I did sympathize with her about shoes damaging the inside of her machine - but again, Merrills. Not Timberlands…. My Timberlands would have died. And my feet have no sympathy for her really…. I have 4 hrs more on a bus this afternoon… I do not need messed up feet and wet shoes tomorrow when I am hiking up mountain falls…. Err…. 

Somebody brought Fish & Chips on the bus.  Not nice… Made my tummy hungry.


Lake Pulaski - site of Lake Town from Hobbit #3

Great Pix along the Bus Ride.... Smaug's Bathtub.
















My long-coveted Paua Shell - Abelone variety unique to New Zealand with a particularly vibrant blue shell.  

Wanaka tonight and Twin Falls waterfalls climb tomorrow (near Queenstown). Lots of filming sites from Hobbit/Rings

https://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/the-hobbit-trilogy-filming-locations/

5pm - Disconcerting to be dropped at a shelter with no open stores and my taxi not waiting. 

Duffy picked me up and gave me a lovely and informative transfer over to Wanaka. Thanks to his advice I am going to restaurant named Kika for lamb shoulder, duck fat potatoes, and vegetables of my choice. I have salmon, so my thought is to pick up a bottle of white and a loaf of bread or baguette to bring back for after dinner. Although, I really am sure I don't need to eat salmon and a baguette after a lamb shoulder. So maybe I will save those for tomorrow in Queenstown. But I'm going to buy them now, because I don't know what I will get later. And maybe I can find a bottle that has screwed up so I could get a little now and a little bit more later.

Just realized that the only thing I've had to eat today was fruit and a granola bar. Everything else was coffee.

Kika's doesn't have a seat for me until 7:15.  So.. Appetizers! Local wine & bakery bread from grocer across the street.  Lovely all! Smoked salmon from the lake salmon dealer. 😂

Got back to Kika's for dinner without having eaten too much salmon and bread. I think I would have been pretty happy with that since I was tired. Even though I'd had very little to eat today I still wasn't excessively hungry.

Ok.... so... noticed they had their own version of fried chicken on the menu at Kika's as an appetizer.... what is UP WITH THIS? Friend chicken in all the fancy restaurant places. KFC is an international thing? (I totally get Dunkin Donuts and tolerate McDonalds.... but KFC & Domino's just feels painful) But Fried Chicken being done as a high-end food just transports me into the realm of the bizarre. But then... I also don't get the whole US chicken wings obsession either.

However, ordered the Lamb and Duck Fat potatoes as planned. Lamb was really excellent. I didn't eat the crispy fat crust because I just don't do that anymore, but meat was tender and flavor was good. Potatoes were fried with a harder crust than I prefer. They were pretty hard to bite into, which doesn't appeal to me really.

Dessert, however, was TO DIE FOR! Chocolate Mousse cake was just the beginning.... the whipped cream was certainly made there, as was the almond glass. Bits of almond cooked into sugar "glass" was sooo dainty, delicate, and flavorful that I could have eaten just that. The mousse cake and whipped cream were sprinkled lightly with red pepper (cayenne, I believe) which gave just a hint of heat. Mousse was made with heavy cream & dutch cocoa just as it should be. Overwhelmingly chocolate.... and so soo soooo good!

Exhausted & ready for bed. Plan is to finish my smoked salmon for breakfast and take the lamb to eat for lunch on the waterfalls hike. Very excited. Hoping I do NOT get my shoes all wet like I did today. Have them sitting under the radiator to finish drying tonight.

Additional lovely pix to leave you with from the Drive from Mt Cook to Wanaka