As usual, we got our nightly rate’s stay worth of sleeping before checking out at 10am. With the exception of St Moritz in Queenstown, every hotel we’ve stayed in New Zealand had a 10am check-out. Unlike in Australia where you can ask for a late check-out, the hotel brochure advising an extra hourly charge of NZD20 for each hour over the check-out time, seems to indicate that almost none asks for this privilege.
How does anyone walk away from this view without taking a final picture? A A picture of the view from my hotel balcony on the morning of my check-out from The Hermitage on Mt Cook, New Zealand.
Once we had loaded our bags in the car and adjusted the laces on our shoes, we three musketeers set off for Kea Point, a two-hour return trip on foot, to see the snout of the Mueller Glacier. With the path almost entirely flat, it was a fairly easy trek, but for the slabs of ice among the snow that made His Royal Highness slip and fall a couple of times.
Off we go! This is before stepping onto the Kea Point trek.
This is just the start folks.
In the shadow of nature’s awesomeness on Mt Cook in New Zealand.
A picture of HRH and Amanda on Mt Cook, trekking towards Kea Point.
Long, long, long way to go. I was beginning to wish we’d packed some crackers.
Still a long, long way to go. We’re only twenty minutes into the trek.
You might be able to see The Hermitage in the distance, now the size of an ant.
Wait, we’re almost there. I promise you it is so worth it.
About now, I was wishing for a mamak stall that sells Indian roti, curry and Milo. Or maybe just a toilet. All this snow around me made me want to pee.
Oh GAWD! We are here! I’d have done a victory dance except that by now I was deliriously hungry and tired. A picture of the snout of Mueller Glacier from Kea Point on Mt Cook in New Zealand.
A picture of me at the snout of Mueller Glacier from Kea Point on Mt Cook in New Zealand.
Yay! We got there! Don’t ask me why I suddenly look so fat.
By the time we reached Kea Point, we were so exhilarated that we forgot our tiredness and lack of breakfast that morning. We met Jeff and his family, cattle farmers from North Canterbury, visiting Mt Cook for a couple of days. They told us about 5am milking of cows, killing sick livestock and having neighbours who live kilometres away. As a city girl, I found it all very fascinating. It was a window into a world I have no association with and experience of. Certainly, it surprised me to hear of Jeff crying after the slaughter of a cow.
Jeff and his boy. Two friendly cattle farmers we had a chat with at Kea Point on Mt Cook, New Zealand.
Once our batteries were recharged, we attempted the hike back to our car outside The Hermitage. Like most journeys, going back seemed a lot faster than getting there.
HRH at the beginning of the trek back to The Hermitage.
A picture of HRH and Amanda heading back to The Hermitage, after our hour-long walk to Kea Point on Mt Cook in New Zealand.
A picture of our path heading back to The Hermitage, after our hour-long walk to Kea Point on Mt Cook in New Zealand.
A picture of Amanda with the sign board on the way back to our car at The Hermitage after our trek to Kea Point on Mt Cook in New Zealand.
It was such a humbling experience to be so small in nature, surrounded by all that snow.
I was so proud of Amanda to walk all that way without complaining. She was such a trooper!
How lucky am I? Beauty, every which way you look.
At the half-way point. I recognised where we were by the pile of rocks there. There is another, not pictured.
A rare snap of the photographer. Grimace on face says, “I’m so bloody hungry and tired.”
A picture of Amanda resting on her way back to The Hermitage on Mt Cook, New Zealand.