It’s just a short walk to the first of the three swing bridges. The scenery at this point of the hike was absolutely stunning and offered breathtaking views of Mueller Lake. I’ll just point out here that the scenery along the entire hike was breathtakingly beautiful, but this was one of our favourite points along the hike.
We were so in awe of the scenery that the second swing bridge appeared before we knew it!
There’s some picnic benches just after the second bridge which are the perfect place for a break! It’s also where you’ll start to see your first views of Mount Cook looming in the distance!
From the second swing bridge, the landscape really opens up and a lot of the path is on a slightly elevated boardwalk. In Spring this is filled with native flowers and I can’t even imagine how stunning it would be. There aren’t many walks in the world that we would do again (simply because there’s just so many to do) but we would definitely do the Hooker Valley Track again when we visit in a different season!
We do however love travelling in off-season and in New Zealand, winter is considered off-season. We prefer travelling in off-season due to smaller crowds and cheaper prices! The smaller crowds mean we often have amazing places like this all to ourselves, or we only need to share them with a couple of others. To us, that makes a destination even more special.
Once you cross the third swing bridge you’re almost there, with just a short climb up a little hill left!
After spending about half an hour simply taking in the view and exploring the waterfront, we turned around and followed the path back to the car park. The scenery is just as beautiful from the other direction, as we followed the path down the valley.
What are your favourite hikes from your travels? x
