Mount Cook National Park is home to some of the best, most scenic day hikes in the country- even the campground is surrounded by amazing scenery, set right in the valley leading to the country's highest mountain, and some of the hikes conveniently start right from Whitehorse campground.
We arrived on a hot, sunny afternoon, too late to start any of the walks. When we woke up in the morning, clouds had settled in low on the valley, blocking all the mountain views- it stayed that way for the 3 days we were there, sometimes pouring rain, sometimes so foggy you couldn't see beyond the parking lot.
We did the Ball flats route, an old 4x4 trail, at the end there are views of the Tasman glacier and lake- but it wasn't until after we had lunch the clouds cleared just enough to give us a peek at the lake below. We did get to see a couple mischievous Keas, they showed up as soon as we opened a plastic bag containing our lunch. They come right up close to people, and they love plastic and man-made things, they played with an old pair of sunglasses someone left behind.
The next day we tried the famous Hooker Valley walk, however the clouds cropped off the top of all the mountains, so it was just a foggy walk to a lake. Luckily, because we are in New Zealand for so long, we have the luxury of waiting for better weather to return, so we left for the coast and decided to keep an eye on the weather for a chance to come back
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