Getting to Mount Cook

Oh dear! I had quite a scare there. Throughout my time in New Zealand, I have been flying by the seat of my pants - meaning, I have no strict plan or itinerary or reservations. I get to one place. I check it out. I decide whether I want to stay another day and, if not, I read the guide book to see where I might go next. I buy a bus ticket for the next day without a problem - the buses are never close to even half full - and go there. I arrive without a reservation and walk around until I find a place to stay. Pretty simple. Except it does not work in Mount Cook or getting to Mount Cook. I travelled two days trying to get to Mount Cook and wound up in Twizel - about 50 kilometers away - and almost did not make it to Mount Cook at all, all because I do not plan my travels in advance.

First, as I believe I have mentioned before, there are few hotel rooms in Mount Cook, except one very large, expensive luxury hotel that seems to always have vacant rooms. And I did not really want to stay in a dorm room at the hostel. So, I decided I would stay in the nearest town of Twizel and somehow go to Mount Cook just for the day.

When I arrived in Twizel, I went to a tour company to find out about guided tours to Mount Cook, but they did not have the kind of tour I wanted and the tours they did offer - like a 15 minute helicopter ride - were far too expensive. The tour lady told me that there is one shuttle company that has one minivan run from Twizel to Mount Cook and back in the morning and another set in the afternoon. I thought, fine, I will just take the morning shuttle and arrive at about 10 am, hike for a couple of hours, and then take the afternoon shuttle back at 3 pm. That would have worked out great except that the morning shuttle was fully booked. I could go at é pm, but then I would immediately have to come back. I hung up the phone without booking the afternoon shuttle.

Fine, I thought. I will just change my plans and stay the night. So, I checked online whether there was a bed in the hostel; there were 3 beds available in a mixed dorm room and 1 bed available in a female only dorm. So then I called the shuttle company back to book the afternoon shuttle, except now the afternoon shuttle was fully booked. Harumph! I now can stay in Mount Cook, but I can not get there.

I started to ask around at my hotel if anyone was going to Mount Cook and would not mind giving me a ride, or if there was any other way to get there. Everyone kept saying that the only way to go was the fully booked shuttle or to hitch. I put up a sign at the hotel hoping one of the other guests would see it and give me a ride and then I went to bed.

I woke up early the next morning and suddenly thought of the regular bus. That is right! There is a bus that goes from Twizel to Mount Cook at about 11 am. At about 7:15 am I checked the bus website and it indicates there was no bus that day. I called the bus company to double check and the operator explained that the Twizel stop is optional. The bus had left at 7 am and was now en route and was not scheduled to stop in Twizel that day. I was stunned. Surely there is a radio on the bus! I know there is. I had seen it and heard it. I basically begged the operator to get me on that bus. She put me on hold to speak with her manager and, to my great relief, when she got back on she said, We will get you on that bus.

So then, I went back online to reserve a dorm bed at the hostel and wouldn't you know it, there was only 1 bed left. So I got lucky. I made it to Mount Cook. The photo above was taken from the drive way of the youth hostel. This view alone was worth all the heartache.