Crowded House sang about experiencing four seasons in one day back in 1991. Granted, they were talking about the weather in Melbourne, not New Zealand, but in a country as varied and remarkable as this it’s also possible to witness multiple weather extremes in a single day. This is exactly what we were planning on doing in the Mount Cook National Park. Remember how we had missed the opportunity to fly in the sea plane over Doubtful Sound? Well we decided to replace one unmissable experience with another. The seaplane pilot had said that the other truly iconic flight available on the South Island was landing in a ski-plane on top of a glacier, before catching a helicopter back down again. So that’s where we were heading!
After leaving Queenstown, we headed to Wanaka for the night, before moving on to Mount Cook the following day. Wanaka enjoys a postcard perfect setting on a picturesque lake at the foot of the southern alps, and yet it is best known for one bizarre feature. #ThatWanakaTree tops most lists of things to do here, beating the more obvious skiing, hiking and fishing on offer. What is this tree you may ask? It must be something incredible right? Like the ancient Kauri we saw in Northland maybe? Well, actually, no. Not quite. It’s just a willow tree. It’s very pretty for sure, due to the fact that it sits alone in the tranquil waters of the lake. But, beyond being a fairly ordinary tree in a reasonably pretty setting, I struggled to see what all the fuss was about. It really is a testament to the power of social media I guess, the great cyber bandwagon! I’m gonna start a new one. #WhatTheBloodyHellWasAllTheFussAbout Although I have a sneaking suspicion it might not catch on.
Next stop was Mount Cook airport, and we really needed a nice clear day. If the weather didn’t play ball, we might miss out on yet another opportunity to take an iconic scenic flight over this incredible scenery. Too much cloud or rain and we were stuffed.
As we left Wanaka and started the three hour drive to Aoraki, we drove through the thickest low lying clouds we had seen so far on the South Island. This was a real Aotearoa autumn day, and the first of our four seasons. As we moved out of the fog, the clouds became visible. And when I say clouds, I mean thick dark rain clouds as far as you can see. It was not looking good. The clouds persisted for the entirety of the drive, and we had all but written off the flight in our minds. We came across another hitchhiker at one point, a young Romanian lad trying to make his way to Twizel to buy some outdoor gear for his solo attempt on Mount Cook. We had time to spare, (given that we probably weren’t flying anywhere after all!) so we gave him a lift to an outdoor gear warehouse, and he told us that he had walked the length of New Zealand on his own over the last five months – fair play, although I think I’d rather share that experience that with a friend.
As we drove along the shores of Lake Pukaki towards Mount Cook, the most amazing thing happened. In the distance, a gap was opening in the heavens above the mountains. As if God had taken pity on us, and reached down to open a window, but only above Mount Cook and the surrounding glaciers. Against all odds the clouds continued to recede, and we checked in for our flight. Unfortunately the ski plane had been grounded for operational reasons, but it had been replaced by a helicopter. It was a bit disappointing to be honest, the idea of landing on snow in a ski plane was pretty exciting, especially after missing out on a water landing a few days ago in Te Anau. No matter, the goal here was to stand atop an ancient glacier in the shadow of the tallest peak in New Zealand, and it looked like we had somehow managed to hit the perfect weather window to achieve it.
We had checked in with over an hour to spare, so we nipped up to the village to have a quick coffee in the now glorious sunshine of a perfect spring like afternoon. Did you notice it? This is now season two of my tentative four season day!
Less than an hour later we had undergone our mini safety briefing – don’t jump under the rotors, don’t wear hats, and other fairly obvious helicopter protocol – and we waited at the runway for our chopper to arrive.
Soon enough we were flying high over the valley, heading towards the bottom of the Tasman glacier. This is the largest glacier in New Zealand at over 14 miles in length, despite the fact that it has been shrinking in size considerably for the last 30 years. We flew over the terminal glacier lake first, strewn with enormous icebergs which had calved from the foot of the glacier as it moved down the mountainside at the heady speed of around 30 centimetres every day. To be honest, I wouldn’t have recognised the glacier if our pilot hadn’t pointed it out. You expect a glacier to be white or blue, right? This was a rock field. It was strewn with a layer of grey granite rocks which had slipped from the slopes either side, covering the ice entirely. Eventually the grey gave way to the white of ice and snow as we climbed higher, marvelling at the ice formations either side of us as it is joined by the tributaries of several other glaciers such as the Rudolf, the Haast and the Hochstetter.
As we reached the Saddle, our pilot landed expertly on the snow, and we were free to enjoy the incredible scenery for 20 minutes. What do you do on a glacier for 20 minutes I hear you say? Well, I’m glad you asked! This is, after all, the winter section of our four seasons in one day, so it calls for wintery snow based activities. Of course, you have to have a snowball fight. And build a snowman. And make snow angels. And just generally horse around in the crunchy white stuff, all while appreciating the fact that we are stood atop a beautiful mountain range in a far flung place in the Southern Hemisphere. It was a very special feeling, and well worth the expense to see the kids have so much fun in such a unique setting. There were other choppers coming and going, and it seemed like everyone was happy to just stand there and take pictures during their landings. That’s what makes doing this kind of thing with your kids so special I suppose, we were the idiots hurling snow at each other (and the pilot), and just enjoying it for what it was – a snow day!
Before we hopped back on the chopper, we all couldn’t resist trying this glacial ice for ourselves. We found a pristine area away from the landing sight, unfettered by previous ice-trippers footsteps, and carved ourselves some home made snow cones. It wasn’t technically glacial ice, it was snow from the surface. But it would have eventually become glacier at some point, and that was good enough!
Our return flight saw Hunter and Bam take the front seats as the pilot took us back over the Minarets and through the plateau of Mount Cook, where mountaineers would seek shelter in the plateau hut before making their 12 hour attempt on the summit.
The flight was over far too quickly, and we were soon deposited on the runway at Mount Cook Airport. It had been a perfect experience, and just to top it off the weather was now fantastic, almost like a summer day. AHA, that was it, we had now experienced (with a slight suspension of disbelief) all four seasons of the year in one New Zealand day. Time for a quick bite to eat in Mount Cook Village before checking out the glacier lake we had flown over earlier.
From above, it had looked like you could park next to the Lake, and stroll over and have a peek at the floating pieces of ice. Well, I guess I had underestimated how high we were as we soared over. From the carpark it was a mildly arduous 20 minute climb up what seemed like ten thousand steps to the rim of the Lake. But the view was reward enough. What had looked like ice cubes bobbing in a puddle earlier, actually turned out to be proper icebergs weighing several thousand tonnes strewn across the surface of the milky blue water. There was a pretty good view of the terminal face of the glacier at the end of the Lake, although you could get a boat for a closer view if you wished. We were lucky enough to see one of these icy behemoths roll over as we stood at the viewpoint, displaying the gloriously intense blue of the pure glacial ice hiding beneath the water.
That was it for our Mount Cook adventure, back to our campsite in Twizel for a good nights sleep before the final few days of our NZ adventure. It’s going way too fast, but good things always do I guess. As we drive back along the length of Lake Pukaki, the big man upstairs must have seen us leaving. That hand of God I mentioned earlier, the one that opened the window above the glacier, well it reached back in and pulled those clouds shut behind us once again. I can’t believe how lucky we were to hit that window perfectly. You’ve gotta take the wins, right!