Out of everywhere that we’ve been in New Zealand, Mount Cook (Aoraki) National Park is one of my favourites. The mountains in the park are so impressive and dramatic and there are huge glaciers and peaks everywhere that you look. There are some really awesome walking tracks that aren’t very difficult as well.

This one is called the Hooker Valley track and it takes you to a lake at the base of Mount Cook. The glacier from Mount Cook drops off into the lake and chunks of ice float around the lake and wash up on the shore.

The mountain in the background of the picture is Mount Cook and the river on the right is the water that leaves Hooker Lake. I took this photo on our way back from the lake just as the sun was setting and lighting up Mount Cook in a soft glow.

Earlier in the day, it had rained incredibly hard and you weren’t able to see any of the surrounding mountains. Because of this, we thought that we weren’t going to be able to do any hiking or walking. Luckily it cleared up, however, and the evening ended up being great. The clear skies and sunset over Mount Cook seemed even more incredible and awesome after putting up with the horrible weather earlier in the day.