Aoraki Mount Cook & Sailing with Icebergs

From Lake Tekapo, we drove along the west coast of nearby Lake Pukaki to Aoraki Mount Cook National Park.  Maori named the mountain Aoraki which means cloud piercer/cloud in the sky and is named after the legend of Aoraki and his brothers.

We headed to The Hermitage Hotel, likely New Zealand's most famous hotel and the center of all activities involving Aoraki Mount Cook.  There isn't really a town...or anything there at the base of the mountain.  There is a teeny tiny grouping of houses plus a few hotels, and you can only live in the town if you work there.  The population of the teeny town is 300 in the high summer season and 100 in the winter.  The Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre is at the Hermitage as Sir Edmund got lots of practice for his historic climb of Everest here in the Southern Alps.  

It was spitting snow when we got to the Hermitage, and we couldn't see Mount Cook, but that was fine with us.  The real reason we were here was to take the Glacier Explorer tour that Gordon recommended.  In this tour, you get in a rubber dingy and ride around Tasman Lake with icebergs from Tasman Glacier floating all around you.  Um, awesome...and slightly scary when the wind is blowing.

Tasman Lake, the icebergs, and the little yellow dingys we are getting on

Icebergs just floating in the lake - the lake we're about to boat around on

Todd in 900 layers and the (very useful) spray shield jacket

A teeny tiny iceberg that we rocked right up to and...

...grabbed a piece of.

This iceberg is ENORMOUS!

Us with the front face of the Tasman Glacier in the background

View from Tasman Lake down the valley/mountain range

I'll admit to being a little freaked out when in started, because the wind was making the lake a wee bit choppy.  Thankfully the minute the wind died down, the waves did as well.

Getting up close (as close as was safe) and personal with these icebergs was pretty cool, and I would highly recommend this tour!