After our walk through the Hooker Valley, we decided to make one other stop in Mount Cook National Park to take a look at the Tasman Glacier. The Tasman Glacier fills the next valley over from the Hooker Valley and so it was just a short drive to the trail head.
The track climbed steeply from the car park and after a short distance we came to an overlook for the blue lakes. Rather confusingly the lakes are actually green. When the lakes were named, they were fed by the surrounding glaciers which gave the water a blue colour. Today the lakes are fed by rainwater and so they have a slightly less exotic green tinge.
We continued to climb steeply past the lakes until we reached the Tasman Glacier overlook. The glacier is the longest glacier in New Zealand, at 23.5 kilometres (14.6 miles) in length, although the gravel on top of the snow and ice in summer makes it difficult to pick out.
Although currently the longest glacier in New Zealand, the Tasman Glacier has been retreating at a rapid rate, particularly since the 1990’s. It is hard to imagine that as recently as 1973, there was no lake at the end of the glacier, but by 2008 it had grown to 7 kilometres (over 4 miles) in length. The glacier is now in a period of even faster retreat calculated to be between 477 to 822 metres (1,565 to 2,697 ft) each year.
From the lookout we were able to spot icebergs floating in the lake, although the photos don’t really do justice to the size of the lumps of ice. Looking back down the valley we could see the milky turquoise of the Tasman River as it left the glacial lake and made its way down towards Lake Pukaki.
We retraced our steps back to the car and then started the drive back along the shores of Lake Pukaki to Lake Oahu where we were staying. Although we have driven this route a number of times the water always looks different.
