“I am not sure that Mount Cook is not the finest in outline of all the snowy mountains I have ever seen.  No one can mistake it.  If a person says he thinks he has seen it, you may be quite sure that he has not seen it.  The moment it comes into sight the exclamation is ‘that is Mount Cook’, not ‘that must be Mount Cook’.  There is no possibility of mistake.”

Samuel Butler

 

Shaped by the giant forces of nature, massive glaciers have scoured the land leaving a trail of lakes and rivers across the landscape.  Today you will see awesome mountain ranges - the snow capped Southern Alps stretching across the western horizon.

 

At 3753m Mount Cook (its Maori name is Aoraki, meaning Cloud Piercer) is New Zealand's highest mountain. It towers above a splendid cast of massive snow-clad peaks that make up the Mount Cook National Park. Nudging one side of Mount Cook is the mighty Tasman Glacier, a 30km giant and one of the longest outside the Himalayas.