While we were in New Zealand, Nikki and I went on a helicopter ride above Mount Cook. One of the other hunters at the lodge had brought his wife on the trip, so she also came along. The funniest part of our ride was Kieron, our guide. He works for the professional hunter the Ricks were out with and it was his job to entertain us during the day. In order to take a ride in the helicopter, we had to have 4 passengers, so we coerced Kieron to come along if we paid his way. What we didn't learn until after our tour was over is that he suffers from an intense fear of heights. What a trooper!
Here are some interesting facts about Mount Cook:
- It is the highest of New Zealand's 27 mountains at 3764 meters.
- It is higher by more than 1500 meters to Australia's highest peak: Mt. Kosciuszko.
- It was named after a British explorer, Captain James Cook, by a captain of a survey ship.
- The Maori people, New Zealand's native people, named the peak Aoraki or Aorangi: ao meanin land and rangi meaning sky or heavens.
- It is almost equal distance from Christchurch and Queenstown.
- It was climbed by Sir Edmund Hilary who scaled Mount Everest.
2 comments:
wow thats beautiful!
Amazing! You have some pretty pictures, you could blow them up and frame them and they could be wall art! Looks like you had a lot of fun! I loved looking at all of your pictures, and the difference between your photos and Ricks are great! Thanks for putting them up for all of us to enjoy!
Post a Comment