A short guide about Mount Cook National Park
Aoraki is the Maori name for Mount Cook - New Zealand's highest mountain (together with Mount Tasman in the Southern Alps) and is situated in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park. The park consists of reserves that were established as early as 1887 to protect the area's significant vegetation and landscape. The Aoraki/Mount Cook village within the park provides a cozy family atmosphere with meals, warm open fires and fantastic views; it is here - where the spirit of the mountains lives on.
In the mythical Maori story - Aoraki and his three brothers became the mountain range known today as ‘Te Tiritiri o Te Moana' - The Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand. In search of their father - Raki, the brothers descend from heaven in their magical canoe and sailed across a great ocean until they found him, in love with Papatuanuku - the Earth Mother. They became stranded on their upturned canoe in the midst of a fierce storm and were unable to return to comfort their mother. While waiting for the heavens to rescue them, their hair turned white and their bodies became as hard as stone. Finally, Aoraki and his brothers became snowcapped mountains and their canoe became known as The Greenstone Waters - the land where Mount Cook stands today.
Tourabout’s range of holiday packages and sightseeing tours to Mount Cook National Park provides a variety of attractions such as cruising to ecotours. But for most travellers walking provides a popular way to get around the park, and there are a number of formed tracks and recognised walking routes. There are also more adventurous tours that trek to cascading waterfalls through dense rainforest, scale sheer cliffs and climb towering mountains. For those who want to ski the mountains or even just take in the sight of them, there are light aircraft and helicopters that can get you to places in minutes that would otherwise take hours or days of walking. But if you’re feeling really adventurous there are camping huts in the mountains - but you must be prepared to climb to reach them, camping out is permitted in some parts of the park - but you may need to dig a snow cave… brrr.