Today I stayed in Mount Cook village, and headed out on another walk. I was supposed to taking it easy to try and get over my cold...but then it was sunny, and not forecast to be so nice tomorrow. What could I do! I did restrain my walk to the short version (the longer and very appealing second option was to hire ice equipment and go to a mountain top hut to stay the night...but didn't want to get into trouble by being tired) The top of the two lakes you can see here is the one I walked to yesterday with the icebergs. The big grey stripe on the middle is debris left by a retreating glacier. I spoke to an Australian guy at the top of this walk (who was about to set off further up the snow on skis!) And he said 20 years ago when he first came here, the top lake didn't exist-that's how far the glacier has retreated. There is serious climate change happening here. In 1991 the top fell off the highest mountain you can see...these kind of things are happening due to ice melting and rocks becoming looser as a result. If î were to ever come back here in the distant future, I suspect it would look very different!
Just refuelling on a large plate of spaghetti, then after I shall go into the sauna (yes, this YHA has an actual sauna included in the not at all expensive price!)
Woułd love to stay here longer, and attempt the long walk to the hut, however it's set to get windy tomorrow, and anyway I have so many other places to see! So it's onwards for now. Let's hope the next places are as wonderful!
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