(click on the photos to see them in our shop)
Since the first time we visited Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park we've been certain that it is our favourite part of New Zealand.
I’m not sure if its because of the view we get when we’re driving alongside the bluest lake we've ever seen and we can see the snowy peaks rising up above the clouds in the distance, or if its hiking the Hooker Valley Track and being surrounded by mountains so big they don’t even look real.
Perhaps it isn’t just a physical thing that makes this place so incredible. It could be what the mountains represent to us. It could be the sense of freedom and adventure, or simply leaving our troubles and worries behind and just being in awe of the landscape around us.
We both love the mountains, whether its hiking up them or skiing back down, there’s something special up there and we always leave wanting more. So without planning it or figuring out if we could afford it or not, we made one of the most spontaneous decisions of this whole trip so far.
It was our second visit to the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park and we’d been dreaming of going on a scenic flight since arriving in New Zealand. But we had never really looked into it. Instead we just added it to a bucket list and dreamily looked into the distance and said “hmmm, maybe one day”.
Pulling up outside the small Mt Cook Airport we convinced ourselves that we were just going in there with the intention of finding out how much a flight would cost. As it turned out, it was much cheaper than we expected. For the same amount of money as a 3 second bungee jump we could fly over 3 glaciers, a few of the highest peaks in the National Park and get a 360 degree view of Mt Cook, the highest point in New Zealand. It didn’t take long for us to be convinced and so we booked last minute seats on the very first flight the following morning.
Now I’ll just make this clear to anyone who’s thinking that this was a foolish or impulse purchase. Or thinks that a 30-minute flight is not going to be worth the £104 we paid. But when you think about it, we’re didn’t just buy an expensive seat in a cramped washing machine with wings. We bought 30 minutes of unforgettable memories. We bought 30 minutes of “fuck, this is the most incredible moment of our lives”.
Yes, it’s true that we could have bought 4 weeks of food, or 1 week of accommodation, or even 3 seconds of bungee jump with that money. But we didn’t, and we don't regret it for a second.
