Every 50 km's the landscape changes around us, first North on Highway 1 we left Dunedin's buildings on hills and its 'rammed' octagonal centre for the grey views of the Pacific - no where near as dramatic as the west side (the Tasman coast), although, there was a surprise.
1 hour out of Dunedin we stopped off at Kaihinaki, or rather the fishing village of Moeraki and the bizzare formations littering its beach - spherical concretions, like giant fossilised balls, sit in and on the beach, some even still poking out of the slowly receding cliff. Formed from lime salts within mudstone these monstrous nutes are largely complete, though some appear to have shattered as if struck by lightning, or a huge stone-bird has broken free.
1 hour out of Dunedin we stopped off at Kaihinaki, or rather the fishing village of Moeraki and the bizzare formations littering its beach - spherical concretions, like giant fossilised balls, sit in and on the beach, some even still poking out of the slowly receding cliff. Formed from lime salts within mudstone these monstrous nutes are largely complete, though some appear to have shattered as if struck by lightning, or a huge stone-bird has broken free.
Back in the car we headed in land along Highway 83, back into Central Otago, where again the hills began to rise like rocky mid-west canyons on our south side while further up ahead, beyond the return of arable farm land, the Southern Alps once more began to take shape.
And there, randomly placed all of a sudden at the side of the road, we came across the towering honeycomb mass of the Tamaki Maori rock drawings - now all largely removed to a museum, the rock itself is still an imposing shape and its hotchpotch of swiss-cheese holes are home to pigeons all cooing away.
Soon after we drove past Lake Aviemore (dammed on both sides) and turned North around Lake Benmoer (again dammed) before reaching Lake Pukaki and spying, through the cloud and haze, the white peak of Mount Cook, or Aoraki as the Maori's named it.
A single road leads in and out of this side of the Mount Cook National Reserve, and 55 km up Lake Pukaki we found our hotel, a huge set of buildings that is dominated by its surroundings. Everthing here points Northwards, to Aoraki. The rooms all have balconies that look out across the Hooker Valley Glacier to Aoraki itself, and with every balcony comes a pair of binoculars - what a spectular view.
We had enough time before dinner for a 2 hour tramp out to the beginning of the Hooker Valley, where a swing bridge traverses the Hooker river, which lunges South, joining the Tasman river before forming the lake.
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