Another day, another early rise. This time so we can get to our next stop – Mt Cook Village. But first a sunrise at lake Pukaki. After driving about 5km on a dirt road, we stumbled upon 2 cars parked next to a pond, and a bunch of people with tripods next to it. So we figured that that must be some kind of photography group or tour, as there was 1 guy who was teaching people what to set their settings to, to achieve certain creative effects. “Perfect” – we thought to ourselves, “if a photography group is here, this must be a good spot!”. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get many good shots, due to the mountain ranges being pretty much fully covered in clouds, but was still a good stop.

Mt Cook Village is a small touristy village, with a grand hotel, visitor centre and a few restaurants. It also has a camp site – White Horse Camp Site, which is 2km away from the village itself. Unlike the one in lake Tekapo, this one doesn’t have electricity or hot water. That proved to be a rather big issue, especially because I only had one battery for my new camera, which would die after 1 day of shooting and a night of freezing in the cold.

We improvised by going to the local (back in the village – 2km drive) cafe and visitor centre to replenish the power in both the battery and our own bodies.

The plan for the sunset for today was to go to Hooker Valley – 1.5 hour hike one way. It wasn’t a hard hike, more like a walk, but still took a while. During the walk we made numerous stops to take photos of Mt Cook – the tallest mountain in New Zealand. And then at the end was the glacier lake – Hooker Lake with a gorgeous view of Mt Cook and its reflection in the lake.