Day 36: Mt. Cook - Lake Tekapo

Already at breakfast I could see it was going to be sweltering today. Totally clear skies and over 20 degrees before 10am.

I took a quick look at the Sir Edmund Hillary centre which faces Mt. Cook.

Then embarked on the first of two walks today. A stunning walk of about 6 kms up the Hooker Valley.

The walking paths here in New Zealand are very well maintained and where there's a chance of flooding they usually build really sturdy platforms.

With one of the surrounding peaks pointing at the moon...

You then round the bend in the valley and end up at Hooker Lake, with the last few floating icebergs, the glacier and majestic Mt. Cook in full view.

Walking back down the valley you pass the Alpine Memorial, in memory of all who have lost their lives in the national park, many to avalanches. I heard two and saw one within about an hour!

By now it was close to 30 degrees and fatigue was slowly creeping in, but I had just about enough in me for another walk. This time it was past the "blue lakes" (which are now green due to the retreating glacier) and on to the viewpoint for the 24 km long Tasman Glacier.

After those 2 walks I was in major need of rehydration so next stop was lunch at the NZ Alpine Club café. Then the beautiful drive back down the valley where the still waters were giving almost perfect mirror reflections.

As I've said before, I always prefer to take the road less travelled so rather than take the main road to Lake Tekapo I first took the canal side road up to the world's highest salmon farm.

Then the gravel road which follows the lake shore on the opposite side to the Mt. Cook road. Here I found my own little perfect spot! I parked up, strolled down to the rocky beach, left all my clothes in a pile on a rock and went for a refreshing skinny dip in the glacial waters. Possibly a worthy occasion for my first selfie of the trip, though I haven't shaved my face for 10 days or my legs for 10 weeks so look out! ...

Anyway, what do you call a naked shadow selfie? A shady??

The final stretch of road to Lake Tekapo was beautiful, with lupins in full bloom on either side.

Which brought me to Lake Tekapo where I checked in to the YHA, grabbed a shower then went out and ate my Chinese takeaway in front of the lake as the sun disappeared behind the hills.

But that wasn't it for the day. Far from it. At 11pm I was picked up for the tour up to Mt. John Observatory and a guide to the amazing night sky. What luck - it was a perfectly clear night and the moon had already set so we had the best view of the stars you could ever wish for. The Milky Way looked like a thick cloud! No pictures I'm afraid.

Still buzzing after the stargazing tour I closed off another amazing day with a cold beer sitting under the stars by the lake in front of the backpackers - at 2am I finally retired to bed.

Wonderful views today and I've chosen this one as the "panorama of the day".