River deep, mountain high

An hour into our journey from Lake Tekapo to Tasman Valley, we realise we soon won’t be able to go any further. No matter how often I turn, the majestic mountain range with its snow-capped peaks is always right in front of our Toyota 4Runner. The tremendous range is seemingly impassable: sooner rather than later the road will inevitably run out.

And so it does in Mount Cook Village. Here at the base of the South Alps – where New Zealand’s hero mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary trained for his Everett Expedition in the 1950s – you don’t need a car to explore. You walk. 

Mount Cook is part of our week-long road trip around New Zealand’s South Island. 

We picked up our car from the Hertz countre at Nelson on the northern tip of South Island five days ago and headed to Marahua where we trekked in the Abel Tasman National Park and tried out our sea kayaking skills. Then we hit the road and kept driving along the East coast, stopping around Havelock and Marlborough to feast on mussels and enjoy the very fine local sauvignon blanc.

This is my third trip to New Zealand. Last time I was visiting the Hobbiton movie set in North Island and the time before that I was checking out Auckland. It’s good to be back and I have to admit this self-drive journey is the best experience so far. Unlike package tours where you are herded around by a tour guide, a road trip allows you to do what you want, when you want.

And the best part of all is getting lost.

In Kaikoura, for example, we decided to stay off the grid and instead follow the cows and sheep along the dirt path. Our detour, which took us into the hills surrounding the Mackenzie Basin, led us to discover an old man and his “secret garden”. 

The old man cultivates different varieties of lavender and diffuses them for essential oil. When we arrived, he was chatting up and charming two old ladies who were interested in his lavender produce. For just five New Zealand dollars, we had cups of tea, admired the chickens, petted the baby sheep and inhaled the fragrant lavender, rosemary and other herbs.

Havelock, Marlborough, Hanmer Springs and other town names have been added to the names in the GPS device over the last five days. Yesterday evening, in Tekapo, we drove to the top of Mount John shortly after the last tourist bus left the outlook and had the breathtaking panoramic view of Lake Tekapo all to ourselves.

Today though, we are at our final destination – Mount Cook – and almost dreading the moment tomorrow when we return to Christchurch, drop off the car keys and start our journey back to Bangkok.

Mount Cook Village, with its 250 residents, is one of the smallest communities on Earth yet has played a major role in the history of the highest mountain – Mouth Everest. Sir Edmund Hillary trained here before reaching the Everest summit with Sherpa Tenzing on May 29, 1953. When New Zealand decided to recognise his achievement by putting his image on a five-dollar note, Edmond himself insisted that Mount Cook rather than Mount Everest be used as the backdrop.

Mount Cook today is a popular hangout for mountaineers especially those who want to train for higher peaks. But you don’t have to be a mountaineer to enjoy Mount Cook.

In the afternoon, together with some Chinese, French and Canadian tourists, we sign up for a boat ride on the terminal lake for New Zealand’s largest glacier, the Tasman Glacier.

“Can I taste it?” I ask the guide and gesture toward the ice, as our speedboat dances around the tip of the iceberg.

The young female guide, who has a New Zealand map tattooed on her right leg, nods. The Chinese tourist – who doesn’t speak English at all – gives me a half-worried-half-amused look, thinking perhaps that I am capable of trying more strange tastes than the average Chinese.

“A taste of global warming” I tell him but he doesn’t understand.

When people dump truckloads of rubbish at the “rubbish hill” on the outskirts of Bangkok or burn spirit money in Beijing, this New Zealand glacier can feel the heat. The Tasman Glacier, which is about 27-kilometres long and-600 metres deep, is melting alarmingly fast, as witnessed by the ice blocks of every shape and size that constantly tear away from its face and crash into the rapidly growing lake.

If you don’t fancy the boat tour, you can walk with a guide around the Hooker Valley and take in the breathtaking views as well as learn about the region’s unique flora and fauna.

Or you can sign up for the “Big Sky Stargazing”. The darkness of night sky over Mount Cook Village is second to none, making it ideal for finding the Southern Cross and exploring the southern sky.

 We decide to call it a day and retire to our balcony at The Hermitage hotel. Settling down with a bottle of chardonnay, we wait for the housekeeper’s prediction to come true.

“In the evening, as the sun starts to set and catches the right angle to Mount Cook, you will see the summit turn pink,” she tells us.

And sure enough, it does.

 

IF YOU GO