Aoraki / Mount Cook

Best time to visit Aoraki / Mount Cook

October to April is the walking season: tracks open, huts accessible, daytime temperatures between 10 and 22 degrees. November and March are our pick, because it is far quieter than the December to February peak. The lupins at Lake Tekapo flower in November and turn the shoreline purple and pink for weeks, which is the loveliest time at the lake even though the plant is introduced and ecologically a problem. The night sky works year-round; what matters is not the season but the moon. On the nights around new moon you see the Milky Way as a band with the naked eye. From June to August there is ice in places on the Hooker Valley Track, especially on the swing bridges and in shade, and high-country access roads can close. Nights are cold here even in summer; 1,000 metres of altitude makes itself felt.

Where to park up around Mount Cook

White Horse Hill Campground sits right at the Hooker Valley trailhead and costs 15 NZD per person. It is the best choice for campervan travellers, because at seven in the morning you step out of the van and start walking while the day visitors still have three hours of driving ahead of them. Booking through the DOC site is recommended for peak season.

The rest area at Lake Pukaki just before the village is a designated freedom camping spot for self-contained vehicles, looking across the lake to the massif. For sunset and the night sky it is the best address in the region. In summer it is full from 4pm.

Tekapo-B campsite on the shore of Lake Tekapo costs 21 NZD per person and ranks among the finest sites in the country. Without a reservation in season it is a matter of luck.

• White Horse Hill: 15 NZD per person, at the trailhead, booking recommended
• Lake Pukaki rest area: free, self-contained only, be there before 4pm
• Tekapo-B: 21 NZD per person, on the lake, only reliable with a booking
• Fill up in Twizel, the village is considerably dearer
• Cold at night even in January, keep warm layers within reach

Hooker Valley Track

10 kilometres return, 3 to 4 hours, and just 110 metres of climbing. The track crosses three swing bridges, follows the glacial river and ends at a lake with icebergs floating in it through summer. It is the busiest walk in the region and still striking, because the mountain is in front of you the whole way.

Start between 7 and 8am. The summit is clear far more often in the morning; by afternoon it clouds over almost daily. The surface is well built but damp, so proper shoes make sense. The wind across the open sections is sharp even in summer, so a windproof layer belongs in the pack.

If the mountain is in cloud, that is not a wasted day, it is the normal state. Aoraki shows itself fully on fewer than half of all days. That is exactly why two nights here is correct planning rather than indulgence.

Dark Sky Reserve: the night sky

The Aoraki Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve was among the first in the world and covers 4,300 square kilometres. Lighting in Tekapo and the village is restricted by law, street lamps point downwards, and the result is a sky most travellers have never actually seen.

It is free from White Horse Hill Campground or the Lake Pukaki rest area. You need two things: a moonless night and patience. Your eyes take 20 minutes to adapt, and every glance at a phone resets those 20 minutes. Bring a torch with a red light, which leaves night vision intact.

Guided telescope tours at Mount John near Tekapo cost roughly 45 to 170 NZD depending on the package and must be booked. Their value is mostly that somebody explains what you are looking at. The Southern Cross and the Magellanic Clouds are new to anyone from the northern hemisphere anyway.

Why the lakes are that blue

Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo are a colour that looks edited in photographs. The cause is rock flour: the glaciers grind stone into particles fine enough to stay suspended rather than settle. They scatter sunlight, and what is left is that milky turquoise.

The effect is strongest in early summer, when the melt is running and fresh material reaches the lakes. In sunshine with the sun high, the colour is stronger than under cloud. The lookout at the northern end of Lake Pukaki on SH80 is the best-known view, costs nothing and has room for any vehicle.

Swimming is possible in theory but seriously cold: the lakes sit between 6 and 12 degrees year-round because they are fed straight from glacier melt. A brief plunge after a long walk is still something you remember.

Tasman Glacier and the other tracks

The Tasman Glacier is New Zealand's longest and ends in a lake full of icebergs. The Tasman Lake View Track takes 40 minutes return onto a moraine ridge looking out over the ice. Boat trips among the icebergs cost around 165 NZD.

The glacier has been retreating for decades, roughly 180 metres a year, and the lake in front of it only formed in the 1970s. What you are looking at is landscape in motion, not a fixed state.

For shorter legs, the Kea Point Track from the campground is an hour return to a lookout over the Hooker Valley. The Sealy Tarns Track is the opposite: 2,200 steps in 3 to 4 hours, with the best view in the region as the payoff. Locals call it the Stairway to Heaven, and that is not meant as a compliment to your legs.