Day 83 Queenstown to Mt Cook

From Queenstown we drove north to Mt Cook which is New Zealand’s tallest mountain. We are spending the night in the “Hermitage” which is the hotel at the base of the mountain. From our room we can see the bottom two thirds of the mountain and the clouds covering the top. We are hoping that tomorrow morning before we leave the weather will clear enough for us to get a glimpse of the top of the mountain.
Most of our time today was spent in the van viewing the countryside. Coming up out of Queenstown over the mountain pass provide some pretty spectacular views. After cresting the pass we entered a more level area that was flanked by mountains on either side. It was very scenic. We passed many farms with herds of sheep. Our lunch stop advertises itself as “Sheep Shearing, Café, Wine and Gifts”. You have to go a pretty long way to find that combination again. Tracy has decided she is going to get a sheep of her own as a pet and keep it to mow her grass.
New Zealand is fighting some self imposed problems with various animals they have introduced to this island. First they brought in rabbits for sport. Well they quickly got out of control and ate many of the hillsides bare. So they brought in stoats, a little weasel like animal, to kill the rabbits. Well the stoats figured out that chasing rabbits was hard work so they went after the small flightless birds that the country is famous for. So now the Kiwi is endangered and a number of other similar birds are extinct.
Tomorrow Kaikoura.
Chris - Thanks, Tracy, for being my guest blogger yesterday, I’m not happy to follow your writing! It was a beautiful morning with sun peaking between some high clouds which made for some beautiful pictures. We took a walk around the lake this morning before we left for Mt. Cook and enjoyed the picturesque town of Queenstown, one last time .We will all miss Queenstown, from the breath taking scenery to the terrific food….including unbelievable French fries. Patrick even finagled the restaurant that has the best fries to make some more for us (before they were really open) at 9:30am on our way out of town. It was a sunny drive to Mt. Cook but very windy. When we got to Mt. Cook it was shrouded in clouds and had started to rain. We enjoyed the lodge this evening which had a beer and wine tasting before dinner, which some participated in. Following dinner we enjoy playing cards and just spending time together as a family.