Aoraki - Mt. Cook

We picked up a rental car-- a small and featureless Corolla (no cruise control even!) and headed out of the Canterbury region and west towards the southern Alps. The drive got majestic around Lake Tekapo where autumn was just beginning and the lake was a magnificent shade of blue. The water gets its color from these very fine glacier pebbles. The lake is one of the largest in the area, some 30+ square miles.

Further down the road, you get to the largest lake in the region, Lake Pukaki with Aoraki/Mt. Cook sitting at it's end at nearly 3800 m high. We took a detour off our course to Queenstown to head into Mt. Cook Village for lunch. The drive winded next to the shores of Lake Pukaki to the very remote and scenic alps village.

After lunch, we drove further south taking quick breaks near Lindis Pass and Lake Dunstan. As we got closer to Queenstown, we stopped to watch the sunset at Lake Hayes. The remarkable reflections and beautiful pink and orange skies were breathtaking. Hiking back to the car, we think we saw the elusive kiwi come out of a burrow at night. Extremely rare to see one in the wild (most NZ'ers have never seen one), but just maybe we did?!

After a full day on the road, we were happy to settle into the very modern Rees hotel on Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. More on this hotel later, but suffice it to say-- it was one of the nicest places we have stayed.