An Iceberg for Breakfast
Aotearoa plays host to many iconic photographic places. Still, after 13 years of calling this place home I am still managing to visit these iconic places for the first time. If you look at landscape photos of New Zealand then you will not have failed to see a photo of an iceberg in a lake surrounded by mountains. I remember when I first started noticing photos from this place I shook my head in wonderment thinking there was no way this was a straightforward place to visit.
How wrong could I have been. Not so far from Mount Cook Village, you start the track that takes you towards Tasman Lake. Haupapa lies at its headwaters, and whilst being one of the country's youngest hukapo (glaciers), it is retreating. As the glacier calves, the chunks that break off end up in Tasman Lake, which in turn washes against the face of the glacier increasing the rate of calving. Can you feel the cyclic effect going on here?
We ventured towards it’s shores for the first time under the cloak of darkness. The stars were bright, and the sun was approaching the horizon allowing us to eventually adjust and explore a little. What a place. Aoraki stands guard with Mount Tasman at his side, getting ready for the start of yet another day.
As the sun peaks its way through, the colours bounce around the lake and mountain sides. No matter where you look there is beauty to be found. As we made our way back towards the Disco, we knew that even as we leave this incredible place, we are about to pass through and by some equally stunning landscapes.