Mount Cook and the Tasman glacier

Now that's some healthy looking seal. It was lovely stopping here with the crashing waves and all the seals in their natural habitat.It was completely unplanned. I'm going to tell you a nasty secret, I'm a smoker and my wife is a nurse who just can't bear the smoking habit. I can't remember how long we had been driving from Blenheim but I was in dire need of some relief when I happened to see a road sign pointing this colony out. So I woke my wife up and suggested we stop here, stretch our legs and take a look at some seals (winks.) Plenty of New Zealand's towns and landmarks have Maori names and I had a big problem getting my tongue around and remembering them, but here's a perfect example of a Maori name which is not too difficult.

Basking in the sun. It's a hard life hey?

Now isn't that just to cute for words?

Travelling from my childhood friend's house in Timaru to Mt. Cook in Aoraki by car was indeed a great pleasure. Not only did we see so much of South Islands lovely countryside and superb farms but also very many different landscapes. One minute you are in lush countryside and the next in desert. It doesn't seem possible especially in New Zealand but there it is. Mother Nature is indeed a fickle beast and rain shadows are caused sometimes by high mountain ranges.

We chatted almost non stop the whole way and stopped for a bite to eat at this splendid scene at Lake Tekapo. They make lovely pies there. Look at the colour of the water. Have you ever seen such a beautiful colour? It's run off straight from the glaciers melting in Aoraki. Mesmerising.

Photo shows Lake Tekapo, me, my childhood friend, his wife and her mother visiting from Zimbabwe, where we all lost our farms when kicked off by a dictator.

Right by the lake is this lovely church. A place to worship in serene surroundings. Splendid.

Quaint and a lovely touch. So serene and peaceful.

The three of us munching our pies by man made canal which stretch out from the dam wall at Lake Tekapo. There is a system of these which stretch for miles in South Island and from lake to lake. Some of the power stations are there on or close to other dam walls. Others just have pipes running down from the canals at elevated places to lower positioned power stations. All New Zealand's power comes from here and is then piped up into North Island. Fascinating. Mother Nature is a splendid thing.

Well we have finally arrived and here is Mt. Cook in all its glory. Now my friends daughter was working in this complex at the time and very knowledgeable about the area she was too. Consequently she arranged many things for us including a boat ride and guided tour around the Tasman glacier. Glaciers and icebergs what a wonder, especially for some one who has spent most of his life in hot climates. The whole thing was fascinating.

The more time I spent here, the more I got to think about Sir Edmund Hillary, perhaps New Zealand's most famous citizen. First conqueror of Mt. Everest without any of the luxuries modern climbers have today especially oxygen, and he cut his teeth on these ranges and Mt. Cook. He must have been a really exceptional and strong man. No question in my mind about that. One just has to be in these settings to get the real feel of just how hard it must have been. I doff my hat to you Sir.

That's the end of the Tasman glacier and it stretches miles back from there. It's the closest our tour guide would allow us to it. Very dangerous as one doesn't know what icebergs are submerged from here on and how many. All the water you can see and which we are on is from the glacier melting and receding at a really rapid rate in modern times. Many people blame this on global warming. However on the other side of Mt. Cook none of the glaciers are receding at faster than normal rates. Now I'm going to return to my favourite module, the photo gallery and try and show you our boat trip. It includes an iceberg which is the biggest iceberg ever to have broken off from the glacier. When I first saw this, imagining it still submerged I cast my mind to the Titanic and I thought to myself, they had no hope whatsoever. When you are in places like this so close to nature you realise just how inconsequential man really is. Believe me.

Just tucking into supper after a momentous day and a boat ride around the Tasman Glacier. I can't remember what the price was but it was expensive. However you could then eat as much as you wanted, with second and even third helpings of a wide selection of soups, fish, roast, vegan, you name it. Washed down with superb New Zealand wine. Terrific.