When we travel we tend to rent a car and we also tend to stay in places that have some sort of kitchen facilities (BnB – check out www.airbnb.com,  www.couchsurfing.org, www.vrbo.com, etc.)

When I pack my bags I always make sure I have the following items:

1. Laptop and DVDs – I actually bought my first “home based” workout because I would be traveling and not be able to go to my favorite gym classes. Now I simply bring my classes WITH me and have no excuse to miss a workout! Need me to help you find your favorite travel workout? Just ask! Oh – and here is an example of what you can do if you have an extra long layover! 

2. Sharp knife – Do I have to tell you to NOT bring this in your carry-on bag? I have a favorite knife that when I travel long distances I always bring it. If you have a small cutting board you may want to throw that in as well. I can easily make a salad if I have veggies and a knife!

Amazing what a knife can do to help you eat healthy!

3. Cooler Bag - They fold down flat and are inexpensive from the grocery store. Great for roadtrips if you don’t want to invest in a big cooler. When you get to where you are going and if you have access to a freezer  freeze a water bottle as your ice block. If you REALLY want to get fancy check out six pack bags – these may not be as easy to travel with – I just got mine from the grocery store.

Simple cooler bag from the grocery store

4. Resistance Bands – I love the ones that Beachbody makes – you can find them here. I recommend the “medium” set for a decent variety

5. YogaPaws – These are a new toy for me! Yoga mats are heavy and take up space and you don’t REALLY need one to do yoga. I googled up “yoga gloves” and found these guys. Here is a 15% off coupon code!

6. Shakeology with a shaker cup and ball. Eating on the road is TOUGH, I get it! I always travel with Shakeology because it is SO easy. I at least know I am getting one super healthy meal, 9 servings of fruits and veggies, fiber, protein, superfoods, I sure don’t see that in my free continental breakfast options!

Shakeology - I know I am getting at least one super healthy meal!

When I get to my destination of the the FIRST places I find is a grocery store to stock up on some travel friendly foods. I’ll post some ideas of things to grab to keep you on track!

What is always in your suitcase to keep you healthy, fit and sane?

I just wanted to throw together some highlight of our trip to Tasmania and hopefully give you an idea of what you can or can’t expect to see/do in 10 days.

Tasmania wasn’t ever really high on my list of must see places in the world, I really knew very little about it and only did a bit of research before heading over to “Tassie”. That being said, it has quickly become one of the places I think everyone traveling to Australia and/or New Zealand should check out. From what I gather most tourists only plan on a few days in Tasmania which is enough if you want to see one or two places but not enough to really get a feel for the place.

It’s relatively small on the map but takes a long time to get from point A to B with the winding highway roads with max speed of 100kph/60mph which most of the time you can’t really go that fast safely. It’s about the same size of Ireland, Switzerland or West Virginia, USA. I haven’t been to West Virginia but know I would really need more than 10 days to see all of Ireland or Switzerland. I think 10 days was just a bit too short to see what we really wanted to see without feeling like we were go go go every day. There are islands off Tasmania that we could have easily spent 3-4 days along on exploring, hiking and relaxing.

One thing I find super helpful when trying to plan itineraries is looking at the tour groups and see what they book for their customers. Obviously they include the “must sees” and you can get an idea how long it will take you to “tick the boxes”, understanding that you wont really get a full feel for the place but can go on your LSD tour – your “look, see, do” of the area.

We did use a 2008 version of Lonely Planet to help figure out some must sees but I have to say I was unimpressed with LP itineraries. There wasn’t one route that made a loop around the island – which is what we ended up doing.

Briefly, here was what we did:

Day 1: Arrived in Hobart and had a day to plan, arrange internet (be aware that your Optus or Vodafone will NOT work in Tasmania outside of the two main towns – Hobart and Launceston) It proved almost worthless to have this and we ended up buying a $100 internet stick from Telstra which was a lifesaver or at least a sanity saver! If the weather is clear you can do a drive up to Mount Wellington – our weather never played the game for us.

Day 2: We had another crap weather day and ended up driving West from Hobart. We thought about doing the Tahune Airwalk and Hastings Caves which you can do both in a day. If the weather was better we probably would have opted for a day trip to the Tasman Peninsula or Bruny Island. The highlight of Day 2 would have been Hartz National Park – but even that the weather wasn’t ideal by our summer chasing standars – but seeing big beautiful snow flakes was pretty cool!

Hartz NP I thought we chased summer!

The “we sure wouldn’t do that again” was definitely the thermal springs in Hastings. Guess we learned our lesson that thermal doesn’t mean “hot”. It was cold outside and the springs are a mere 28C or 82F – so similar to a lightly heated swimming pool, definitely not what we were anticipating.

Day 3: We started our circumference of the island by heading counter clockwise. We only chose counter clockwise because the weather seemed to be playing the game for the coast. You could do this all clockwise. We didn’t make reservations until the night before when we had an idea of where we wanted to get to. This was a great day that included a stop at Freycinet National Park to hike to Wineglass Bay.

View from Wineglass Bay lookout

Wineglass Bay

I would have loved to have hiked Mt. Amos but not enough time for both. Wineglass Bay is a MUST do in my opinion. That night we opted for cheaper accommodation in Bicheno and really enjoyed the town of Bicheno. Had a great meal of grilled Trevella that night at the Sea Life Center.

Bicheno

Day 4: We only went as far at St. Helens and the Bay of Fires. Not long on the map but this gave us some more time to explore Bicheno and the coast and the Bay of Fires. This was an amazing day – great weather so the red rocks really stood out against the blue water and sky. Just enjoy exploring and the beauty. These were some of the prettiest beaches we have seen (and we live in Kauai so we see some awesome beaches).

Bay of Fires - happy cows

Bay of Fires

Long Mandy

Diamond Island Beach near Bicheno

Day 5: This was a big windshield day for us. We saw that there was good weather in Cradle Mountain and since we had little interest in wineries or the town of Launceston we made a few stops but made it as far as Gowrie Park which is about 45 minutes outside of Cradle Mountain but had some cheap accommodation (nothing fancy so don’t expect much) but it was cheap!) Some not to miss stops along the way are the St. Columba Falls on the Pyengana reserve.

St. Columbo falls

The Pyengana dairy was good too but eating that much cheese, milk and fat definitely went against my nutrition plan and my body told me so! Made me know that I definitely need to give the Ultimate Reset a go when I get back to the States!

So much milk! Pygena farm

We also did a short walk through Cataract Gorge in Launceston, which I probably would have enjoyed more had I not eaten like crap a few hours prior.

Day 6 and 7: We had a BLUEBIRD day in Cradle Mountain – two days in a row so we took full advantage and did A LOT of walking! A few gripes about Cradle Mountain… first of all not all the hikes are listed when you get to the visitor center. You get the short ones and the LONG ones but not the 3-5 hour hikes for people like Chris and me! The fist day we hiked to Marion’s lookout – we chose the steep and tough trail (glad we did – I like stairs!). After getting up there I knew I wanted to do more hiking in the area! Instead of heading back the way we came we took a longer route that spit us out at a different shuttle stop and took us by Cradle Lake and through some lovely rainforest.

We took the rough and steep route

Chris admiring the view

At Marion's lookout

Pretty forest

On our way back to the visitor center after our hike we stopped at the “Interpretation Center” where they have a 3-D model of the park with walking trails outlined on the model. Why isn’t this in the visitors center? We didn’t get off at the Interpretation Center because if we had we wouldn’t be allowed back on the shuttle going INTO the park – only going OUT of the park. Seriously?? We saw some other travelers get really frustrated by this fact – its not really explained or sign posted well enough IMO.

For our second day we decided that if the weather was nice we would head back to Cradle Mountain and do a BIG hike that would take us 1/2 way around Dove Lake, up to Lake Wilks, to the saddle between the two main peaks, across the face, around another mountain and to a couple more lakes (Twisted and Hanson) and then back to the start. It was a GREAT hike! Really good bang for the buck!

On our day two hike we followed the red line counter clockwise to the small lake then up to the saddle, back down, around the little hump on the left and back out the red trail around the lake. Epic day!

Dove Lake and Lake Wilkins

Lunch always tastes better on a good hike

That is where we are headed - to Twisted Lakes

Twisted Lake

Roots!

Chillaxin almost at the end - we went a long way!

Because accommodation was booked at Gowrie Park we had to find another option and chose a pub in Waratah, also about 45 minutes outside of Cradle Mountain but on the West side. It was my first time staying in pub accommodation Waratah ended up being a pleasant surprise. The pub was across from a nice waterfall and we heard of another hike to do in the area – Philosopher Falls which was also very pleasant.

The falls in Waratah

Loved the mushrooms in the forest

After our second day of hiking we decided to head all the way up Northwest to Stanley for the night. We didn’t make too many stops since we knew we would be back through the next day to explore if we wanted. We did consider going from Stanley around to Arthur River and though the Tarkine but heard the road was rough, would involve a ferry crossing and it would take a LONG time so we chose to double back.

Day 8: Another big windshield day. These are almost more exhausting than the hiking days! I’ll take hiking days over windshield days any day!
We started in Stanley by hiking up to the top of the Nut! Definitely worth the walk! (Or you could take the chairlift but not us!)

Heading up "The Nut" in Stanley

View from The Nut

We had a couple stops at Rocky Cape, Sisters Beach and Boat Harbor Beach. All lovely but after seeing the beaches on the east coast these didn’t quite compare – although Boat Harbor Beach was pretty special.

Boat Harbor Beach

The stops didn’t take long but we really did just stop, have a look then carry on, not really soaking in and enjoying the area. We wanted to make it to Strahan that night in time to check it out a bit. We also wanted to see Montezuma Falls but messed up by not planning enough time for the three hour hike. Next time!
Strahan just isn’t our cup of tea – sounded like the highlights was a pretty boat trip that is special because of the reflections in the water. We skipped this (you would need a 1/2 day- whole day at least to do this trip) We checked out Ocean Beach and McQuarie Headlands and called it a night.

Day 9: Another BIG drive. The drive from Strahan back to Hobart is LONG – about 5 hours but we wanted to stop a few times for a couple short walks. We really only wanted to get as far as Mt. Fields or Westerway for the night. We did a couple of the short walks, Nelson Falls and the lookout were both nice and worth the stop. We arrived in Mt. Fields to do Russell Falls which was REALLY nice. Definitely worth the stop – it was a really good falls, and an easy short walk! We could have made it back to Hobart but ended up staying in New Norfolk when we drove past another pub, apparently the oldest continuously licensed pub in Australia. It was similar to staying in the hotel like the Shining! We were the only guests, it was old, but no kids playing in the hallway.

Day 10: We headed on the rest of the way to Hobart – we were going to stop at MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) but it was closed on Tuesdays and we were going to drive up Mt. Wellington but you guessed it, cloudy! So we carried on and went to the Tasman Peninsula. I would suggest spending more time on the Tasman Peninsula – I don’t think we gave it nearly enough time. However, the Port Arthur historical site I wouldn’t head back to – expensive and boring, of course this is just my opinion – some people spend two full days there. We spent about 90 minutes there and were out $32 a person. Ouch! It would have been nice to do a boat trip or some more walks or spend the night out there. We headed back to Hobart (about 75 min drive each way so a doable day trip)

Day 11: It all depends on the weather it seems! We hoped Mt. Wellington would play the game but it didn’t so we tried MONA again. I really enjoyed MONA but Chris breezed through it and thought it was just a bit too weird. There are some very “interesting” (read: odd, controversial, out there) exhibits. It is meant to make you think, give you something to chat about and maybe even make you feel a bit uncomfortable. Read reviews on tripadvisor.com to decide if you want to check it out or not! We were feeling pretty tired after the 10 previous days so checked out the Botanical Gardens and called it a day to get ready to fly out the next morning.

Click the Fat Car – even a Porsche doesn’t look good with extra pounds

Photo credit Tim Wray - click the car to take you to his site

So the cliff notes version of our trip
~Pay attention to weather to plan your route
~Highlights were Cradle Mountain and the East Coast beaches
~Would come back to check out Bruny Island, Maria Island and Tasman Peninsula more. Maria Island is expensive to get to so spending a couple days would make sense to me.

Tips
~Get a Telstra phone! It'll be more expensive but what good is a cheap phone that doesn't work!
~Get a parks pass for eight weeks. Otherwise each park is $24 for 24 hours.

Email me if you have questions. I know I am not an expert in Tasmania, just a traveler like you trying to see the sights and make the most of it!

Me and my handme down GT Force on a X-country ride

One of my new found loves has definitely been mountain biking and I feel very fortunate to live in Queenstown, New Zealand where we have some awesome trails basically in our back yard!  Literally, as I hang up my laundry I get to watch the mountain bikers on their last few downhill bits before heading back up the gondola to the top. This is the trail I ride the most -but it isn’t me in the video. I find riding almost meditative (especially the uphill and cross country) and the more I ride the more lessons I keep getting taught. I realize that these lessons don’t just relate to mountain biking but easily carry over into my daily life so I wanted to share them with you.

1. Look where you want to go. I have heard this in other places (gymnastics, skiing, etc) and I use this in many aspects of my life. When biking, if you focus on that tree you don’t want to hit or the edge of the bridge you don’t want to fall off of you’re bound to wind up there. Focus on the trail ahead of you and the path at the end of the bridge, not the dangerous distractions off to the side and you’ll be smooth sailing. Think positive, focus on what you WANT, not what you don’t want out of life.

2. Granny gear isn’t going to get you up the hill. This is one of my favorite lessons. There is this small but very steep hill that comes right out of a downhill and for the the last two years I’d get ready for this hill by trying to get enough speed on the downhill and put it into my lowest “granny gear” to get up the hill. Every time I would lose power 1/2 way up the hill and had jump off my bike and walk it the rest of the way. The other day I realized I kept doing the same thing over and over again and it clearly wasn’t getting me the results I wanted so I tried something new (sound familiar? That’s a lesson in itself!). Instead of going for the “easy” gear I went up a couple notches. By putting it into a “harder” gear I had more power and more traction and made it up the hill with no problems. What are you doing in your life in the easiest gear that isn’t getting you where you want to go? Step it up a notch – you’ll get to the top.

3. Don’t look at the giant hill. This is for those times that you come to a giant steep hill that you think – “I can’t possibly pedal up that!” Don’t get overwhelmed with such a large task ahead of you, aim to knock out bit by bit. When I get to that giant hill I pick little goals to work towards – “I’ll make it to that rock then walk the rest”. But what happens is I make it to the rock with no problem then don’t want to quit, so I say “Just get to that stick, now that leaf, now that other rock.” Before I know it I have conquered the hill one bit at a time and never felt overwhelmed. Little goals will help you reach your bigger goal.

4. Don’t give up – you will get better each time. After 8 months of being off our bikes, Chris and I were eager to get back into it and jumped on our bikes and began to tackle the hill behind our house. This used to take us 45 minutes, walking some of it and taking some breaks. Our first time back was embarrassing. We were so out of shape and ended up pushing our bikes up most of the hill and it took us about an hour. The ride back down was just as bad – our arms and legs were jello. It wasn’t fun and it made me wonder what I loved so much about biking. Of course I just wasn’t fit at the time and needed to get back into it. That was two months ago and now I feel myself getting better every time I ride. I can pedal up the entire hill without pushing and limited breaks. My downhill skills are getting better as well. I keep track of how long it takes me and how many breaks I take. I can literally see how I am getting better each time I ride. You are getting faster, better and stronger everyday you work towards your goal.

5. Get off your seat!! When I was a newer mountain biker I felt safer sitting on my bike seat going downhill and Chris would holler at me – “Get off your seat!”  You’ll get better if you get off your seat and stand on your own two feet. Your legs will get stronger, you’ll find your balance and you will have more fun when you aren’t sitting on your ass.

Now if only I can get as good as these guys here – gorgeous video!

It starts like the other hikes in the area, drive up to the parking area and start walking up the road. At the first fork take it to the right. Once at the first saddle find the old goat trail amongst the scree and follow it to the rock garden. Continue around the peaks then over Wye saddle and down by Lake Alta and back on the road to the parking lot.  The goat trail looks a lot more sketch than it actually is (that being said I wouldn’t do it if there was still snow on the tops). Many times rocky, scree covered skinny trails over extreme heights get me a bit freaked out but this didn’t really affect me at all.

I really enjoyed the walk along the face but after over an hour of boulder hopping I got a bit over it. There isn’t a ton of elevation gain and I read that it is marked as an “easy” hike that takes 3-4 hours. I wouldn’t call this easy due to the heights, the lack of trail, alpine nature, boulder hopping, etc. and the total loop took us 5 1/2 hours – we aren’t slow pokes – but maybe we missed the trail a bit.

Go prepared – good shoes, hiking pole(s), lunch, water, layers, etc. Not for kids or dogs.

Other hikes in the area are Lake Alta or just do the first 45 minutes of this hike to get you to an awesome view of Queenstown. On our list is still Double Cone.

Here is our little photo journal of our hike, enjoy and let me know if you have questions.

This first picture was taken from tramper.co.nz and shows where the trail cuts across the face of the mountain.

This path of the hike along the front of The Remarkables

To do this hike counter clockwise take the right fork. You'll finish coming over the saddle just to the left of the chair lift

Once at the top of the ski lift find the trail off to the left to get to the ridge

There is another higher viewpoint to your right from here. This makes a great short hike - about 45 min from the start

Looking back down the valley we just hiked up

From the saddle look for the trail on your left and start the traverese - Chris is on the trail

Maybe wearing grey isn't the best idea on a hike like this. Chris is a bit camoflouged

Stunning views of Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown from the trail

Nice view of the trail on the right

Yes, there is a trail there

I pretty much hiked the trail like this for a fair amount of it.

Surpisingly not as scary as it could be

The trail is just in the shadow, yes we came from there.

You know you are on a cool hike when scenic helicopter flights are flying below you. (It's small but hidden in the mountains over the word "on".)

Lunch break after walking along the front of the Remarkables - about 2 hours from the start

Chris found a circle rainbow around the sun

On lunch rock

After lunch we finished with the skinny trail and made it to the rock hopping section. Definitely not on a “trail” just headed in the general direction. We saw a small rock fall start ahead and above us on the mountain. Made us not waste anytime in this section while not rushing too much and twisting an ankle. Many of the rocks are wobbly and barely balancing on whatever they landed on. It was pretty exhausting mentally and physically. We crossed a couple snow patches as well.

This is after about an hour of rock hopping, with another hour to go

I come equiped with my own skis

Our snow tracks

Looking down Wye Valley- you can hike out through there. The walk finally got a bit easier without so many rocks

Looking down at the tarns above Wye creek valley

Not sure we were on the "trail" but we can see where we want to go

Ahh! After 5 hours of hiking we can see the end is near

Half way down from Wye saddle

Beautiful Lake Alta - only 30 minutes to the car now.

Hope you enjoyed this! Let me know if you come to New Zealand – we’ll take you on a hike!

Going up to the top of Bob’s Hill via the Skyline Gondola or hiking is a must do while in Queenstown. There are three different ways to get to the top of the Gondola

1. Ride the Gondola – $25NZ round trip and enjoy the Luge, cafe, short walk and the view from the top. One way tickets are also available.

2. Walk up from the base of the Gondola – there is a walking track that takes about an hour.

3. Walk up the old forest road that starts at the top of Glasgow Street. There is some parking there and gets you up a bit of the hill. We do this the most as it is near our house.This takes about 45 minutes.

Once at the top you’ll see signs for the Ben Lomond track. This is a BIG walk and by taking the gondola up you cut out about 500m of elevation and about 60 min of hiking. It’s about 11km from the bottom of the gondola and about 1500 meters of elevation gain. From the gondola allow about 5 hours (we did it in 4 1/2 the other day with lunch at the top and a couple short breaks along the way) or 6 hours from the bottom round trip.

Make sure the weather is clear and pack a layer as it may be windy/breezy/wet up on top. Bring plenty of water and lunch or snacks for the top. The views are 360 degrees of amazing up there.

There is an easy to follow trail for the first hour that gets you to the saddle – even this is a nice walk with great views and worth doing. The next 45 minutes is up, up, up the rocky steep path to get you to the top. Hiking poles would be useful.

Below you can see what you have in store. This first picture was taken from the Queen’s Drive hike around The Remarkables.

Ben Lomond peak and the Gondala - zoomed in from Queen's Drive hike

It's not far from the top of the gondola through some forest before you see Ben Lomond peak ahead of you

This is from the saddle, about an hour into the hike. Still a great view and a good cardio workout.

This is the trail you just walked up - nice view of the lake, it does get better!

One view from the top. It's about 45 min from the saddle, steep and rocky

The other side of the view from the top, the trail, Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables

Panoramic of the other 180 degree view with Liz heading up to the top

View of Mt. Cook as you drive towards Mt. Cook Village

There are some great things to do in the area and if you are lucky enough to have time and good weather I would suggest spending at least one, if not two nights there.

Here are some of the things we have done while there and my “perfect itinerary”, if money weren’t an object and I controlled the weather might look something like this.

Arrive at Mt. Cook with time to hike to Mueller Hut and do an overnight stay.
Watch the avalanches, enjoy the sunset and sunrise and some amazing star gazing.

After a leisurely morning start the next day take short walk from Mueller Hut (if there is one) then head back down the steep face and maybe a short detour to Kea Point.

There are some other short walks to do or take a drive out towards Blue Pools that would be worth a look to see some of the icebergs from the Tazman Glacier. If you have money burning a hole in your pocket book a boat trip with Glacier Explorers to get right up close to the icebergs – but you don’t get right up next to the glacier – a bit too dangerous. At $140 a person it’s a bit steep. Here are some pictures from our trip with Glacier Explorers.

Tazman Glacier

Icebergs are not one big hunk of ice, its millions of ice crystals compacted together

Blue Steel with Blue Ice

Iceberg that rolled earlier in the day

Day three head to Hooker Valley and come back for a great picnic lunch. Head out to catch a helicopter ride over the peaks to give your legs a rest. If the helicopter is a bit out of your budget how about a $16 3-D movie at the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Center which will take you to the top of Mt. Cook from the safety of your theater seat?

As for accommodations, I have only ever car camped at Whitehorse Hill which is $6 per person per night, flush toilets, shelter/”kitchen” area that has boiling water and tables. There are also showers near the gas station a 10 min walk away. There are a couple hostels and of course fancy hotels. The camping does us just fine. I can’t really recommend the restaurants as must visit places, but they are fine if you don’t feel like cooking.

View from our campsite at Whitehorse Hill car camping

It’s a gravel path that I did the morning after our Mueller Hut hike and before our Hooker Valley hike. It only takes about 15-25 minutes each way. A great short trail run, or just a simple way to stretch your legs and get a great view point. I didn’t really have plans to do it, just wanted to see Mt. Cook in the morning light and started off in my flip flops and next thing you know I was at there. I think this place could be an amazing place to get some good views at sunset as well as the light on Mt. Cook could be awesome. But don’t take my word for it as I didn’t actually make it here for sunset.

Simply head out the same way you would to Seally Tarns/Mueller Hut hike from the Whitehorse Hill campground and you’ll see the turn off for it.

Mt. Sefton from Kea Point

Mt. Cook from Kea Point

View from Kea Point

If Mueller Hut hike is a bit too intense for you don’t miss out on this one!

You get amazing views along the way, cross over two swinging bridges and on a clear day awesome views of Mt. Cook.

Definitely a must do walk in the Mt. Cook area

First swing bridge to Hooker Valley

Second swing bridge

Panoramic on the way to Hooker valley

The "small" hill on the right is the ridge where Mueller Hut is

Hooker Glacier and Mt. Cook

This is an amazing day hike up and back, or can be done as an overnight in Mueller Hut.  We had been waiting for a good weather window before heading up there from Queenstown, which is about a 3 1/2 hour drive. Definitely check your weather before heading up as you wouldn’t want to be at the top to be inside a cloud.

What is it with New Zealand not giving distances but only time it takes to hike? Ugg. From what I gather it is about 5 miles round trip but with over 1000m/3400ft elevation gain.

We tend to car camp when we head to Mt. Cook ($6 per person, flush toilets, boiling water in the kitchen but no gas, running water, there is one public shower that we found – ($2 for five minutes – hot!) near the gas station. You can start the hike right from the camping area and it starts off very easy, wide, flat gravel path but about 15 minutes into the hike you start going up, up, up and don’t stop for about 3-3 1/2 hours. The path is well marked, and varies between walking up wooden stairs, rock stairs and steep rocky trails.

About an half way up you’ll get to Sealy Tarns (Tarns are small alpine lakes). This alone makes a nice hike and gets some awesome views of Mt. Cook and the valley below. Continue on for another 1 1/2- 2 hours to get to the saddle and get even better views. Because of our drive we started this hike at noon – so the bright sun was on us the way up. Hiking a bit earlier would have been more ideal.

Once you reach the saddle you’ll be looking across at some amazing hanging glaciers, waterfalls and avalanches. We chose to stop and enjoy our lunch at the saddle and then carried on to the hut. The views at the saddle trump the views at the hut in my opinion. With our short stop at the tarns and a longer lunch stop we still arrived at Mueller Hut in about 3 1/2 hours. There are pit toilets and water at the hut (bring your own tp). If I were doing this again I would definitely want to stay at the top – there are about 20 mats for $35 each. It would be amazing to have watched the sun go down and see the amazing colors and the night sky and then of course the new days light would be impressive to wake up to. Listening to avalanche after avalanche crash down the other side of the mountain.

The avalanches are amazing but you don’t always see them – it’s like looking for the lightening strike as you hear the thunder – it’s not going to happen. It’s so loud throughout the valley and you expect to see a HUGE snow and ice fall and you look up and you see some snow tumbling down but it all looks so small compared to the giant rock face. Then you remember how far away from the actual fall you are and that even though it looks small it is all relative, and there is no way I’d want to be anywhere near that coming down. It’s an amazing place.

Oh – on this hike, definitely a hiking boot/shoe hike. If your knees are particularly bad this might be too hard on them. We chose to hike with poles and saw many people doing the same. Makes a difference for me for sure. I don’t care for steep downhill but this didn’t freak me out, there wasn’t anything so exposed that I got nervous.

Kids – this is going to be a tough one for most kids. That being said I know it is possible as we met a family of 5, dad was carrying the baby on his back (about 1 1/2) and the girls age 6 and 10 were hiking on their own. Chris and I know we aren’t going to be parents but if we were that would be the kind of parent I would want to be.

Bring a lunch/snacks, enough water, and a layer. We carried rain gear and warm layers and used all but the rain coat. This hike was done on December 21st – longest day of the year. Happy summer!

Here is a short video with our 360 view near Mueller Hut.

Below are some of our favorite pictures.

The hike starts off innocent enough

About 15 minutes into it you start heading up - follow the orange markers

As you climb the stairs you'll get amazing views of the valley and Mt. Cook

Can you find our tent in the valley below?

So many stairs! Up up up!

See the Z in the snow above the rock trail? That's where we are headed

Panoramic of the view from the top - sorry for the bad stiching

Happy girl at the top!

Have you ever noticed how much better lunch tastes when sitting outside after a great hike?

Merry Christmas! We borrowed the hats from other hikers

That was our lunch spot - I love the perspective the people give it

Almost to the hut

Heading back down

Head out of Queenstown towards Remarkables Ski Park (there’ll be a sign saying it’s closed if it is the summer but there wont be gates keeping you out). You’ll get about 1/2 way up and see a small hill with short path, definitely take the opportunity to enjoy the view from up here.

View from the drive up

Panoramic view on the drive up

Park at the parking lot at the top and begin by following the road up the hill to the right of the shop. About 5-10 minutes up the hill you’ll veer off to the left and be on the trail instead of the road. Look out for the yellow stakes. Other landmarks is the giant snowmaker/blower and the proximity of the stream to the road – that stream comes from Lake Alta so you’ll want to head where it came from. Follow the trail but if you aren’t sure where to go look for the yellow posts.

Follow the yellow stakes

We made it to the lake in about 25-30 and a fairly decent pace. You can venture up the scree slope on the left to Wye saddle but don’t find the views amazing for the work you put in for it. This is also the same way hikers/climbers doing double or single cone will begin.

Lake Alta

Once you have enjoyed the view and bite to eat head back down the way you came.

We definitely wear hiking shoes for this one. When you are done head down to Lake Hayes for a swim and a sunbathe or Amisfield for a glass of wine and fancy cheese. Here are some more facts on the Lake Alta hike. Enjoy!