Mueller Hut

On Friday 15th of April I departed with a group of six people from my flat complex and embarked on a journey to Mueller Hut in the Mount Cook Nationalpark. Along came Rosie from the UK, Ian and Seth both from the US, Hannah from Norway and Sofia from Hungary, all in all a pretty international group of fantastic people! 

Our first stop was a lookout point at Lake Pukaki along the road to Mt Cook. 

Clear blue sky, not a single cloud in the sky and tepid temperatures around 20 degrees, what a perfect day for a journey to the heart of the South Island!

180 degree view of Lake Pukaki

Our second, not entirely voluntary stop was just a few minutes later when we had to stop to give way to some sheep. So New Zealand...

The road to Mount Cook

Pleasant company during our first break at a pick-nick-table halfway up the mountain: a Kea bird

The New Zealand Kea is beautiful to watch, but can sometimes be quite annoying; especially when it tries to destroy your lunchbox or your backpack with its sharp bill.

Ian and his faithful walking stick

Time´s flying by in good company and soon it was evening and the sunset was coming closer and closer, creating stunning colors in the sky!

His majesty Mount Cook in the last rays of the setting sun, what a view! 

We reached the hut right on time to watch the sun finally setting down and vanishing behind the mountains. 

We had some pasta and sandwiches in the hut and went to bed quite early as it had been a pretty exhausting day and we all had in mind to get up early the next day and watch the sunrise.

6:45 am    The first light of the rising sun approaches

The surrounding mountains in the first morning light.

Mueller Hut, where we stayed the night.

The hike down the mountain back to the car-park was way easier than the way up and we made it back in a little less than three hours. We arrived in Dunedin at around 6 pm, had a shower and some dinner and got ready for the night: a beach party/cave rave at Long Beach. The party was great and we slept on the beach afterwards. This is how we woke up the next morning: 

Seth, Sofia, Rosie and me

All in all it was a great weekend, probably one of the best I´ve had so far here in New Zealand!