NZ South Island Motorhome Road trip 2018 Day 5

Today we are going into Mt Cook area and will be staying in the campground there tonight. Campground is where you pay a small amount of fee and then you could camp there overnight , usually cost about $8-$16/pax/night depending on the facilities available there.
Firstly we made our way to the Mt Cook Airport as we had a booking for our flight experiences from Inflate Experiences. We had booked the Ultimate Alpine Experiences which would have cost us $399/each but we booked thru bookme which only cost us like $258/pax so it was quite a good deal. Weather was ok today cos for the past few days we were here , seems like it get cloudy in the early morning and late afternoon , usually only get sunshine during the noon period.

Selfie with the helicopter

The package consist of taking a helicopter up the mountain , then transfer to the ski plane back to the airport. Whole trip takes about 45 min , while waiting for the ski plane you will have time to take pictures on top of the mountain.
It's a great experience though it's a bit expensive, do not the max weight they can take is 116kg , I am on the borderline.As i also wanted do do skydive in Queenstown so i had to control my diet for the first few days as my weight is on HIGH side.

Next we drove to the Mt Cook village which is very different from what we saw 13 yrs ago , was thinking to visit the same place where we took photo last time but all had changed. In our memory , there seems to be only ONE hotel at Mt Cook last time but now , it's becomes a Village. Next we moved on to the White Horse Campground , which we will be staying over night here. This is also the entrance to the Hooker Valley track , which is supposed to be a 5-6 hrs return hike. Once you reach the end of the track , you will see a lake and Mt Cook is just in front of you. It's quite and easy hike, the track are mostly flat , just remember when you crossed the 3rd suspension bridge , the end is just a 10-15 min away.

Got addicted to this Yoga pose

It took us about 6 hrs to complete the track , it was about dark when we came out and there are still many people inside.Do remember to have torch/head light if you intend to stay after night fall.
More shots of milky way ......

Lazy Dinner

Drying my shoe on the roof

Nice "Camper "

Was too tired after the hike , so just cook simple dinner = Instant noodle. Do note that in winter, not all the toilets are open, when we were there, only the biggest hut was open ( there is a dining/washing area next to it ) and also there is no light in the toilet after dark. Best to have a head light with you. One funny incident is that , I went to the toilet at night and when i was coming out , I saw a huge animal in the toilet , I almost freak out !!!! if i am not wrong it's a Possium , to the New Zealanders , Possium is a pest. Forgot where I read , but one of the "guideline" to control them is to RUN them down with your car if you see one one the road.

Taken with iPhone 7

As mentioned this is a paid campground , so there is a hut where you filled up your particular , car plate number and put the money in a bad then you drop into the "honest" box. After that , put a slip on your car dashboard. Apparently another way is to park and wait for the ranger to collect from you when they do their rounds.