Bing today Hooker Valley, South Island, New Zealand – Bing offers a variety of images and tourist websites
Bing wallpapers
As many of you must/may/might know, Bing Wall Papers introduce us to our world from our very own computer or device screen. I have taken, as you also know, to posting these with some information. I usually need to retrieve this from Wikipedia since most other information comes from tourism Sites, not giving sensible information – for the travel impoverished bank account. Especially in these ‘Rona times when to go anywhere is still not a safe option – and for those of us with disabilities with horizons closing in on us.
I do feel I must be cheating when I post content menu’s from Wikipedia, as if I really ought to go to the trouble to paraphrase part of the information to make it truly mine. I used to have a very neat tool a couple of Office Editions ago which used to provide a summary of a document at the click of a button – not so now.
So let’s see where we are travelling to today – if we could. New Zealand is the nearest other Nation to Sydney, being 3 hours ahead i.e. G+13/14. We might like to visit the Hooker Valley there on the South Island.
The Hooker valley Track
Canterbury Plains, east-central South Island, N.Z.
© Neil Bates/Shutterstock.com
The Hooker Valley track seems to be mandatory for every search I have attempted so far. We do live in a world where people move and beauty is beheld, however first of all I was expecting simple information about the valley its self. It is on the Canterbury Plains on the south Island and in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park.
Wikipedia directs one to the Canterbury Region National Parks website, where this interactive map of the South Island can be explored. DOC maps: Discover the outdoors A menu will take one to Geological or Geographical areas of choice which can then be discovered on the map and then one can decide whether to walk or climb. A chrome search gave me further information about the Plains themselves, from the Encyclopaedia Britannica They are a lowland area of east-central South Island, New Zealand. They cover an area of 150 by 45 miles (240 by 70 km) bordering on the Pacific Ocean. The principal rivers are the Rakaia, and Waimakariri , flowing east from the Southern Alps to cross the plains, which have hot summers and generally low humidity and a mean annual rainfall of less than 30 inches (750 mm).
A brief history informs us that organized settlement of the area began in the 1850s with the introduction of merino sheep from Australia and the beginning of intensive farming for produce to ship to the goldfields of Victoria, Australia. The plains are the largest low-lying farm district of New Zealand, well suited to mechanized agriculture for grains, pasture seed, and fodder crops, also as fat-lamb raising territory. (summary – via text compactor )This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen, Corrections Manager.
O.k. 2 days later and we had better get to the business end of the Hooker Trail
The Hooker Valley – images Hooker Valley, South Island, New Zealand – Bing images
Again Wikipedia is the best non-commercial information hub:
Etymology;- Canterbury provincial geologist , Julius von Haast named the geographic Hooker Items after the English botanist Jackson Hooker.
The Hooker Valley Track starts at the White Horse Hill camping ground, which can be reached from Mount Cook Village by either a 4 km (2.5 mi) sealed road, or a walking track of similar length connecting Mount Cook Village with the camping ground. Adjacent to the camping ground, there is a car park, toilets, and a large modern shelter with informative panels.
In winter, the access road to the White Horse Hill camping ground can sometimes be closed to vehicles following snowfall, but can be walked along from Mount Cook Village to get to the start of the track. Alternatively, the connecting track from The Hermitage Hotel across the valley to the starting point of Hooker Valley Track is usually passable.
The start of the Hooker Valley Track leads through open grassland, as it passes close to the Alpine Memorial, a memorial to the mountaineers who have died in the Mount Cook National Park over the years. The memorial reads “To the memory of mountaineers and guides lost to the hills”
Shortly after the memorial site, the track crosses Hooker River downstream of the Mueller Glacier lake on the first of three solidly built large wooden suspension bridges (Lower Hooker Suspension Bridge), that were upgraded in 2015.[12] As the track leads around the moraine wall damming Mueller Glacier lake, it crosses Hooker River again, this time upstream of Mueller Glacier lake.
The vegetation in this section of the track changes to snow tussock, spear grass, large mountain daisies, and Mount Cook Lily. All of these alpine plants flower in the summer months between December and February.
During the summer months, icebergs can be seen floating in the lake, and the lookout also offers views across the lake to the terminus of Hooker Glacier.
Frozen lake in winter with broken ice around a small iceberg remnant
In winter, there can be snow and ice on the track, and the lake regularly freezes over. The wooden steps between the memorial and the first suspension bridge can become icy and slippery following frosty nights, but may be bypassed by walking through the snow on the side of the steps.
In the coldest months of the year, it can even be safe to walk onto the ice of the frozen Hooker Lake once the icesheet is thick enough, but care must obviously be taken. Icebergs that had already been in the lake at the time of freezing are then frozen in place, but the slight movement of these floating icebergs breaks up the ice surrounding them – these areas must be avoided.
Because the track is exposed, there is no protection from the strong sunlight, and wearing sunscreen is advised.
Now I think I will leave you to your own devices with a link back to the Wikipedia Original Text – Hooker Valley Track – Wikipedia and Wikipedia Gallery
Image 1 citation
Media Title Canterbury Plains
Media Type Image
Website Name Encyclopædia Britannica
Publisher Encyclopædia Britannica
URL https://www.britannica.com/place/Canterbury-Plains#/media/1/93089/147472
Image 2 Attribution;- By Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia – Own work, Public Domain, Suspension bridge over Hooker River upstream of Mueller Glacier lake https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50628324
Image 3 Attribution:- By Pseudopanax@Wikimedia, CC BY 3.0, Icebergs floating in Hooker Lake in summer https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50628299
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