Where is Hooker Valley Track Located and How to Get there?
Located at the basin of Mt Cook/Aoraki in the heart of New Zealand Southern alps, this track is 4 hours drive from Christchurch International airport and 3 hours drive from Queenstown airport based on google maps. If you have driven on New Zealand road before, you know that you have to always add another hour to google map estimates for New Zealand roads especially in South Island.
I know that there are some tight itineraries for visiting New Zealand key locations all over internet but it would be too much to drive from Milford sound to Queenstown and Mount cook in 3 days as suggested by lots of fellow travelers, it simply doesn’t worth it. Tight itinerary means long drives per day and it ruins the fun of driving in New Zealand which is literally 50% of the actual experience especially in South Island.
We drove to Mt cook village from Queenstown and found an amazing free camp site around Twizel on the night before. Somewhere by the river and lots of Lupins around, stunning location with one of the best sunsets that we had in the whole trip. If you haven’t read the rest of the blog posts around our van trip in South island, you can start from here.
We travelled to this area, end of October, beginning of November. Generally speaking it’s one of the best times to visit south island because they weather starts to warm up and lupin flowers are blossoming and it is not as busy as the holiday season in December and January.
From Twizel, we started early in the morning to be at the starting point of the track early in the morning. Short after leaving Twizel heading north, road will take you to the western side of lake Pukaki with amazing view of Mt Cook in the background. It’s only 45 minutes drive but this is the drive that you don’t want to do at night time or when you don’t have enough time to stop along the way and admire the turquoise unreal water of lake Pukaki with snow capped mountains in the background.
Hooker Valley Track Experience:
The walk begins at the Visitor Centre or White Horse Hill campground/carpark. It’s 8 minutes drive from Mount Cook village where you can stay in few accommodation available there. The track is 10 km long return and according to DOC (Department of conservation), it takes 3 hours return. Definitely allow more time for return trip even if you are extremely fit because the track is breathtaking and you need at least half of the walking time for sitting and taking it all in along the way and also at the end point of the track.
New Zealand has abundance of well paved and marked tracks all across the country but Hooker Valley track is called the most rewarding track in the whole New Zealand considering the easy accessibility of the track. You will experience stunning views of Alpine terrains while you are surrounding in massive natural Glaciers but amount of effort required is almost nothing.
Pretty much anyone who can walk with below the average level of fitness can easily do the track on a fine day, thanks for the extreme effort, put into preparing and maintaining this track. Like all the tracks in New Zealand, there’s no fee for using the track.
Even though the track is well prepared and maintained, it’s still located in harsh alpine environment and weather can change dramatically in few hours so packing different layers of clothing and plenty of water and snack is essential. We were lucky to have an amazing weather for the whole day but it’s not the case most of the time. In spring time, where we visited the track in 2020, the track sides were covered in amazing white alpine flowers and stunning native grass and bushes with unique hues of green which made the whole scenery magnificent in surreal way.
The last part of the track gets more rugged with loose rocks but still perfectly maintained. And ends up with an epic view over an amazing glacier lake with floating icebergs. The lake scenery changes in different seasons but it won’t disappoint. if you feel hot after 2 hours of hike or just want to challenge yourself mentally and physically, swimming in the lake can be an option. I didn’t have a gut to do it but Amir swam to the iceberg and back 🙂
Here is a perfect spot to relax and take it all in. that’s why it’s good to start the track early. We had the lunch by the lake and listened to the sound of ice cracking from the glacier.
We stopped quite a lot on the way up to take photos which i think is a great idea because we constantly had mountain in front of us. On the way back, the view is amazing but not as amazing as going up and generally speaking everyone is more tired. So we walked back in peace and silence to the visitor center and it took us less time to get up there.
Where to stay:
White horse campground which is technically the parking area of the Hooker valley track, right next to the visitor center is the prime spot to park your camper van or pitch your tent. The rate is pretty much the same as all the standard camp grounds in new Zealand but it’s hard to get the similar view anywhere else in New Zealand. In 2020, we haven’t reserved the campsite and we still managed to find an amazing spot to park but when borders are open and tourists are flooding in, it’s a good idea to book in advance and find the best spot and park your van there before starting the track early in the morning.
Mount cook village is another option for camping or reserving a room but we do suggest staying more than a day in the area. There’s plenty to do including some other short walks and cycling in the national park.
Michael Chernishov
October 11, 2021 at 5:00amNice! Stephanie and I did the same walk 15 years ago. And I went for a dip in Hooker lake too! Everyone thought I was mad when they saw the video – but I’m glad to hear that Amir is just as crazy as me! 🙂
akhodaparast
October 13, 2021 at 4:01amHi. Interesting to hear that you’ve done it many years ago! Any family long walk planned for near future?
Michael Chernishov
October 13, 2021 at 4:10amHi Azadeh and Amir, We would like to do something fun over summer. Hopefully we’ll be allowed to go! If I could go anywhere I’d take the kids over to Mayor Island for an adventure (It’s out from Waihi). Would you guys like to join us?!
akhodaparast
October 15, 2021 at 7:30amIt’s hard to plan at the moment. The island looks interesting. We love the fact that you find and explore every corner of New Zealand. We need to plan for a Persian lunch in our place over summer. Amir will be in touch 🙂
Michael Chernishov
October 15, 2021 at 8:02amA persian lunch would be great! I’ll see what I can cook up for you guys! Looking forward to it.
We’ll let you know if we decide to plan a trip to Mayor Island this summer.
The kids would also be keen to jump in your pool! 🙂