March 14 – we are back at Mt Cook to hike up the Hooker trail which is a 10km return. Along the way we went over 3 swinging bridges,of course- what is the deal with all the swinging bridges ? And they are all going over very swift rivers, and when it is windy which in the mountains is constant, they swing or sway and basically are scary for someone who is afraid of heights and afraid of bouncing at terrifying heights as well!! Needless to say, it is the only way to get to the other side so I focused on the other side and took off!! By the time we came back I took a video of part of the bridge crossing.
But the hike was fabulous. If one stopped and listened you could here the glaciers above cracking from the melting snow. At one spot we heard a big pop like a cork being popped off a bottle of champagne and a big gush of water formed a waterfall for about a minute and then it was gone. Incredible site to witness! At Mueller lake which is the turn around point. We saw small ice bergs on the lake which was a grayish color from all the glacial silt run off. It is a great spot to sit and have lunch, test your ability of skipping rocks or for-the “hardy soul”, take a plunge into the cold lake! Not for me, I am “hardy” but not stupid!
After hiking back we headed to Wanaka past a new landscape of rolling hills with great shadows from the end of the day and great lines of light on fences and spider webs.
