Lake Pukaki from Peter's Lookout
The drive from Lake Tekapo to Mount Cook was amazing! We were blessed with great weather that day. My favourite photos of the trip were probably from that day.
The distance from Tekapo to Mount Cook is about 100km. With a couple of stops in between, it took us a few hours to reach our accommodation in Mount Cook Village.
Our first stop was at Lake Pukaki Visitor Centre where Mt Cook Alpine Salmon is located. Honestly I didn't really fancy eating salmon sashimi as my second breakfast, but I thought I should try a bit at least. "A bit" turned out to be one box for myself. Haha! The sashimi was delicious! Together with the amazing view, it was the perfect combi!
Yummy salmon sashimi!
Second breakfast with a view. Remember to apply enough sunscreen!!
Tables outside the store for a quick bite
The skies and the lake were as blue as they can be. Really a sight to behold.
Bronze Tahr statue
After a quick stop at Mt Cook Alpine Salmon, we detoured to Twizel for lunch. Lunch took us a while as we had to clean Miss Ting up (carsick again) and she was distracted by the playground (good thing because at least I know she's just carsick and not really sick).
Family Amenities: High Chair, Outdoors Playground (Toilet in the restaurant is quite small. I'd suggest using the public toilet for diaper changing. No changing table available though.)
Bao buns with sticky pulled pork - The portion was big! And the meat is really sweet. I ate one and packed one for snack time.
Thai red curry chicken - Yummy but a bit on the sweet side
Twizel town centre is quite small, but there's several shops and a four square supermarket if you need to get some groceries. If you will be staying in Mount Cook Village, remember to get your groceries unless you intend to eat out, as there's no supermarket in Mount Cook Village.
Outdoor playground
After lunch we returned to Lake Pukaki to make our way to Mount Cook Village. I couldn't miss Alpine Lavender farm which was on the way because it's summer and the lavenders were in full bloom! Miss Ting was sleeping so I stopped by quickly for a few shots and organic lavender ice cream!
Wah, best lavender ice-cream ever, even better than that one I tried in Hokkaido. Japan has the most delicious food in our opinion, but this organic ice-cream is the best! Probably because it's only prepared when you order, and made with fresh ingredients! I'm not a fan of lavender, but the smell of lavender flowers made it sooooo yummy! And this comes in limited quantity! Apparently I ordered the last cup of the day :)
There's also a shop selling lavender products, but I didn't have much time to browse around.
Random shot of the car we rented from Avis.
Another shot from Peter's lookout. Love the snow-capped mountains!
Aoraki Court is much newer than I expected (compared to photos I saw online). Our unit (#3) is just opposite the reception and parking is in front of the reception. Great view of the mountains from the back porch. There's no additional bed available, but the bed is big enough for 2 adults and 1 toddler.
View of the mountains from the back porch
We left for Tasman Lake shortly after we checked in at Aoraki Court. The drive to Tasman Lake was amazing (becoming a norm by now). There's so many stops I wanted to make, but we needed to get to our destination before nightfall.
There's 2 routes to choose from. I wanted to see icebergs on the lake and was recommended to go for the Tasman Lake route on the right, since it's an easier trek with a toddler. The icebergs were not what we expected though. Very underwhelming!! The weather was so hot we didn't want to go on the other route. It was a good hiking experience with a toddler though. It wasn't too long (about 1 hour return) and I realised how tiring it can be. Haha!
Glad that I had my Tula with me on the trek, if not I think my arms would break! Miss Ting was interested in walking for the first 15mins or so, and then slowed down significantly so I decided to back carry her. Although she's considered light for her age, it was no joke! Good exercise for my legs!
View of Tasman Lake Jetty with the icebergs
This was the view at the end of our trek before we returned. Quite underwhelming if you focus on the icebergs! The mountains were amazing though. Unfortunately we couldn't take the boat rides for a closeup view of the icebergs due to age restriction. Oh well. It's still on my bucket list for now!
After the trek we returned to our accommodation for dinner. We bought some pasta (and salmon fish) to cook at the accommodation. Do note that cooking of seafood and spicy food is not allowed if it leaves an odour! Thankfully it didn't leave an odour in ours.
After dinner, I waited and waited till the skies were dark (sunset was at 9pm and the skies were dark after 10pm), and took out my tripod to photograph the milky way. Mr and Miss Ting were fast asleep by then, so I stayed near to the unit, only taking the photographs at the entrance to Aoraki Court. It's my first attempt at astrophotography, and I really love the photos!! It was cold and boring to wait for the photos to process, and since I was not familiar with my camera, it took me a long time to trial and error to get the right amount of light! It was also so cold at night and my down feather jacket proved to be insufficient, so I gave up after 45mins. LOL!
Here's my favourite photo of the milky way taken at Mount Cook! There's still lots to learn and this is definitely not my last photo of the milky way :)
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