The Mount Cook day tour, lakes to glacier.

Aoraki/Mount Cook stands 3,724 m high, the tallest peak in New Zealand. Around it the national park packs in 19 peaks above 3,000 m, and glaciers cover 40% of its ground. Nowhere else in the country can you stand on a valley floor and see this much ice and rock in one sweep, which is why a long day on the road feels like a fair price.

Te Wāhipounamu, the World Heritage Area that spans the south-west of New Zealand, takes in the park as well. The InterCity bus company notes that it covers 70,696 hectares and became a national park in 1953. Even the approach is part of the show: the Tasman Glacier, the longest in the country at 23 km, can be seen from the main highway as you enter the park.

What stays with people on a trip to Mount Cook is the scale. Lake Pukaki runs straight up the valley toward the mountain, the road narrows between moraine walls, and the peaks seem to grow with every kilometre. On a clear day, the moment the summit appears above the lake is the reason the whole trip exists. Keep your camera within reach from Lake Pukaki onward; the views come thick and fast.

The tour gives 30 minutes of free time at Lake Tekapo on the way in with a second, 5-minute pause there on the drive home. It is a chance to walk to the shore, see the famous colour up close and stretch after the long climb from the plains. For the town itself, its little stone church and its famous dark skies, see our dedicated Tekapo guide.

Lake Pukaki follows after 30 minutes more on the coach, with 15 minutes to get out and look. This is the view on so many postcards: a broad turquoise lake with the mountain at its far end. The Mackenzie tourism body calls a stop at the Pukaki lookout a must on the way to the park. On a still morning the mountain reflects in the water, so look for calm conditions and keep your camera handy.

The turquoise glows brightest under a clear sky. If the sky is grey on the way in, look again on the way out: a guest in a recent review got the bright turquoise on the return leg, when the guide stopped again for photos. The return stop at Tekapo is short, so use it for one last look rather than a full walk.

Ngāi Tahu, whose land this is, hold Aoraki as their most sacred ancestor. In the account DOC shares, Aoraki was a young boy in a canoe stranded on a reef; he and his brothers climbed to its high side, and the south wind froze them into stone, becoming the Southern Alps, Kā Tiritiri o te Moana. Knowing the older name, and the story behind it, changes how the peak looks when it finally appears above the lake.

The European name came later. In 1851 Captain Stokes named the peak Mount Cook, after Captain James Cook. DOC writes it with both names, Aoraki/Mount Cook, and so does this site, a small way of keeping both histories in view whenever the mountain is mentioned. Using both names together is a simple sign of respect for the mountain and its people.

Climbers came early. The first attempt on the summit was made in 1882, by a party that came within 20 metres of the top, and the summit was first reached in 1894 by Tom Fyfe, Jack Clarke and George Graham. Ngāi Tahu, for their part, regard a climb to the summit as standing on an ancestor's head, and so not a fitting thing to do.