McGregor Musings: 5 walks on 1 fabulous day

I woke up to a glorious sight - the top of the mountains without clouds and with the sun slowly coming down from the top. Not knowing how long the clear sky would last I got Bethany up as soon as she stirred.

We had planned just to walk to Mueller's Hut and to Hooker's Hut over our two days, but now that we were back at ground level and with beutiful weather, we googled 'top ten walks at Mt Cook'. We'd already done the top 2 (Muellers Hut and Sealy Tarns), so we only did 5 more today!

1. Blue lakes walk - sadly the small pools are no longer blue as the glacier which fed them has shrunk. Compared to everything else we've experienced, a disappointing walk.

2. Tasman glacier view walk - a relatively short uphill climb to an extraordinary view of the glacier, the lake and Mount Cook. The glacier used to be so much larger but the lake is still massive. Plus there are icebergs! The kayak tour far below helped us get a sense of the size of everything (2nd picture, bottom right).

We liked 'The armchair'

3. Governors bush track- we took this track by mistake but enjoyed the change of scene - well-shaded, almost rainforest.

4. Red Tarns track - a hard climb up, though it was less than half of the walk to Mueller's hut, and this time we didn't have heavy packs. Great views from the top. From the top we learnt that what we had thought was Mt Cook (far right) was actually Mount Sefton (left)! Whoops!

(After these walks we enjoyed a drink on the balcony of the cafe at the upmarket Hermitage Hotel - still with a glorious view of the mountains)

5. Hooker Valley track - fabulous, mostly flat walk with 3 massive swing bridges and a constant view of Mt Cook.

A memorial to the many mountain climbers who have died here.

After we got to the end and saw Lake Hooker, we backtracked and took the turn off to Hooker Hut.

A walk through the reeds and along a creek and we were stunned to discover the beauty of the hut, with a superb view of Mt Cook. Even the loo had a view!