New Zealand circuit - Mount Cook's Edmund Hillary's Alpine Centre - Day 17 - The 15th of March 2019 (morning)

 

Due to the harsh weather conditions only three of the people in our group risked following the guide to the Hooker valley track, which was supposed to last three to four hours. I chose to go towards the Hermitage and spend some time at Sir Edmund Hillary's Alpine Cntre, which I found to be very informative. Being an Art lover I was particularly impressed with an exhibition of paintings done about Mount Cook by various artists in completely different epochs and in a number of different  styles.

 

 

 

I strolled around the bookshop, which had an interesting range of books, as I was waiting for the "adventurers" to return.

 

New Zealand circuit - Mount Cook Lodge and Motel - Day 16 - The 14th of March 2019 (evening)

We reached the Mount Cook backpackers Lodge Motelroom by late afternoon. As I settled in my first floor twin bedroom overlooking the mountain range I felt I was priviledged to be surrounded by such beauty. The weather was getting worse and I believed that if it were to be that way the following morning I would not risk doing the scheduled track, mainly because I was not prepared for such a weather.

 

New Zealand circuit - The Lakes' region - The Blue Lakes; Mount Cook National Park - The Tasman Glacier - Day 16 - The 14th of March 2019 (afternoon)

 

We drove further into the Mount Cook Park having passed by herds of sheep until we reached the lakes'region, where we were supposed to visit the Tasman glacier and the Blue Lakes. From a certain moment onwards the landscape was breathtaking. I don't think I'll ever be able to feel what I felt when I looked at the Mount Cook peak in the distance - the grees, the blues and the browns mingling in an almost unreal way ... I could have stood there for endless hours just admiring the view, but the Green lakes and the Tasman iceberg awaited us.

The expected turquoise colour of the lakes was effectively green because of the presence of the green algae, since the iceber lakes have shrunk.

 

I wasn't particularly impressed by the Tasman iceber at foirst, maybe because I had had major expectations regarding the fact that it is the largest one in new Zealand. it wasn't until I started thoroughly looking at the colour of the ice  and the surrounding atmosphere that I said to myself "It is beautiful after all ...".