On Tuesday morning I hopped onto the Stray Bus and said
goodbye to Queenstown. Stay Bus is a hop-on hop-off bus for backpackers; a really popular concept in New Zealand. It's a great way to cover a lot of ground without having to drive, and the driver helps you coordinate lodging and activities each day. I traveled with the same group of people all the way to Picton, later in the week. It was such a random collection of people and
I loved it. Everyone had such different lives and awesome stories to tell.
My first stop was Mount Cook, which is also known as Mount
Aroki, or cloud piercer. It is the tallest mountain in Southern Alps of New
Zealand.
We stopped along the way to look at beautiful glacier lakes and
make many many bathroom stops.
Once we checked into our hostel, I headed out on what is
known as an "Argo" tour. An Argo is an 8 wheel contraption that climbs up the side of the mountain, which was very helpful. We only had to hike a little ways to see Tasman glacier/lake, which
sits towards the bottom of Mount Cook.
This lake was massive and had icebergs
floating at one end of the lake where they had been pushed down by the wind.
That evening I got to go see a short little 3D movie about
the Maori legend behind Mount Cook, which has to do with brothers and a canoe
flipping and turning to stone and eventually rising out of the water and
forming Mount Cook, or something along those lines. I have now heard so many Maori
legends now that I can’t keep them all straight.
The next morning when I woke it was snowing which was absolutely
beautiful and amazing to me because it was September! We hustled and beat the storm out and made our way to Rangitata.
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