I spent my last ten days in New Zealand driving from Milford south to Te Anau and then to Invercargill (the southern tip of the South Island) and along the Southern Scenic Route through the Catlins and up the east coast to Dunedin. I enjoyed these towns and I spent a couple of days in each. I then drove north to  Mt. Cook Village and finally to Christchurch where I turned in my faithful $US14.00 per day rental car and prepared to fly to Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands.

Mount Cook is every bit as scenic as Milford Track, just a different terrain. The surrounding area is more of an alpine desert whereas Milford is more  tropical. The views of Mt. Cook and Huddleston Glacier from the two major day-walks, Hooker Valley Track and Kea Point Walk, are spectacular. I heard a lot about Mt. Cook and the surrounding village when I was tramping Milford Track. I loved being at Mt Cook and I extended my stay an extra night so that I could take in all that there is in this national park.

There is a very nice museum with films and exhibits honoring New Zealand’s favorite son, Edmund Hillary, who was the first person to summit Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953. Born in Auckland in 1919, Hillary made his first climb of any significance when he climbed Mt. Cook in his twenties--not an easy climb by the way. He became enthralled with mountain climbing and when the opportunity arose to climb Everest, he was ready. His party had to make the climb from the south on the Nepal side since the Chinese government had taken over Tibet in 1950, closing the Tibetan route on the north side to all climbing expeditions.

Several others had attempted Everest before him and had gotten very close. One Swiss party made it to within 800 feet of the summit in 1952 before being forced to turn back because of the weather. Hillary and his equally important Nepalese Sherpa, Tenzan Norgay, had a tremendous amount of determination, perseverance, good timing and luck. All of this together with great strength and endurance helped put them into the history books.

Hillary lead an extraordinary life after Everest. England’s Queen Elizabeth II  was crowned a few days after he made it to the summit and one of her first official acts was to knight him Sir Edmund Hillary. He was also the first person to drive a tractor from one side of  Antarctica to the other following the route of Henry Shackleton. And he was responsible for raising large sums of money through his Himalayan Trust to build roads, hospitals and landing strips in Nepal for the Sherpa community. His efforts lead to the first school being being built in one Sherpa community.

Having trekked through the Himalaya myself, I can tell you that it is wonderful to see how Hillary’s work helped improve the lives of generations of the Nepalese people. He is held in the highest regard in their country. He died just last year. Quite a life. And yes, I bought and read his very enjoyable autobiography.

There is also a first-rate planetarium in the same building with several good programs about black holes, the size of the universe, and discussions of Einstein’s theory of relativity and other major scientific theories related to space. I really enjoyed this, too. I’m a sucker for planetariums.

Up until I arrived in NZ I had met maybe 15 American travelers. I’ve probably met that many Americans on the South Island alone. Now I know where they like to go. I know it’s not Africa and Asia and that’s a shame because there are great countries to see in those continents and it’s more economical to travel there compared to other parts of the world.

When I planned this trip, NZ was the country I most wanted to see. It is  even better than I thought it would be. The South Island is the place to be when touring NZ. I absolutely fell in love with this area, seeing as much of it as I could. It’s dreamy here, wonderful.

I don’t normally return to places where I’ve traveled because I like to see a new state or country each time I travel. The exception is when I find a place that is extraordinary. The South Island comes under that category. In fact, I considered ending the trip here and finding a job! I’ll finish the trip but I’ll return to the South Island when the opportunity arises.

Next stop: Rarotonga and the Cook Islands

    You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.

                                      -- James Allen