A landscape bleak and beautiful

• Published date: 18 June 2022
• Publication title: Mix, The

Even the most amazing landscape can be tainted by our inner landscape

The Hooker Valley track has been called the best day walk in New Zealand. Glorious alpine areas are normally available to the most nimble but here Jo and Joe Average can walk smack-bang through a high mountain valley then say a casual hi to New Zealand’s tallest mountain, Aoraki/Mt Cook.

It’s a three-hour return walk with only a 124m change in elevation. Its general amazingness has led to an annoying popularity so, to avoid the crowd, start out early.

Nature’s at her best then anyway, with fresh, pungy smells and curious early birds flitting unguardedly. A tom tit suggested that death and peace will come soon enough so we might as well be at peace here in the meantime. Perhaps it was recent bereavement talking or perhaps the ancestors comfort us in mysterious ways.

There actually is a peace in the huge rawness of the mountain tops. Or perhaps their scraped-naked ruggedness is ugly. Daunting and deathly. Oppressive rock.

But as the eye travels downwards, there’s evidence of life. Soil has built up and plants have grown. What was once a destructive glacier is now a life-giving river flowing down the valley floor. There’s even a wee sweetie of an alpine tarn, with a gently rippling surface.

After...