Duration
Allow 4 hours duration.
Cost
Cost $675.00 per person.
This is New Zealand's highest mountain at 3,754 metres (12,316 feet), aptly named 'Aoraki - the cloud piercer'. Depart Dunedin International Airport and fly due north over the Maniototo Plain, famous for its dramatic light and cloud formations. Arriving at the WaitakiRiver, we take in the huge earth and concrete Benmore Dam before heading upstream over Lake Pukaki and the ice grey Tasman River. Its source is the Tasman Glacier, one of the largest sub-tropical glaciers in the world. And there it is - Aoraki Mount Cook, a breathtakingly beautiful peak of snow and icefalls. It was said by Samuel Butler "It is the finest in outline of all the snowy mountains I have ever seen. 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 in to sight the exclamation is 'that is Mount Cook', not 'that must be Mount Cook'. There is no possibility of mistake". We will circle the summit several times where you can also look west to the névés of Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. We return via either Central Otago or the giant Macraes Gold Mine in East Otago, depending on the conditions.
