Rhod and Anna's World Adventure

'The walk along the Hooker Valley offers stunning views of the towering Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest peak at 3754m and ends at the Hooker Lake where you have the chance to see icebergs floating in the glacial water.'

Sounds good doesn't it? That's what we thought so we set off.

A week before this event we were on Manly Beach in Sydney. The sun was shining and I was having a surfing lesson. As we set off we couldn't see the top of Mt Cook but I confidently predicted that it would clear and by the time we got to the lake we would have a perfect view and some photographs to make you all jealous.

I could give Michael Fish and his hurricane forecasting a run for his money. 30 mins into the 3 hour walk it started to rain. Not "that fine rain that soaks you right through" but that horizontal rain that hurts when it hits you in the face! Fortunately the pain of the rain didn't last long as it quickly turned to snow which is colder but a lot less painful when it hits you.

Like a true brit I was expecting the snow to be a brief shower of perhaps 3/4 of an inch. I expected it to cause havoc on the road and rail system and then melt instantly leaving hundreds of people stranded. Wrong again! That's twice in a day! Very unlike me! By the time we reached the halfway point (the lake) the snow was well and truly settling...on us!. The view of Mt Cook was non-existent. (The only time we saw it was when we left the next day and looked back from 30kms away!) and the icebergs, although very spectacular are not that easy to appreciate when you are freezing cold, soaking wet and have over an hour of walking through the snow still to come.

We raced back to the car and luckily for us there was no road chaos which afforded an ideal opportunity for hire car handbrake turns around the sleepy town of Mount Cook! The afternoon was spent with our feet up in front of the log fire in the hostel telling tales of battling through 6 foot snow drifts.