Monday, December 1, 2025

New Zealand - Day 13

We woke up to a sunny day and a great view of Aoraki/Mt Cook while eating breakfast.

After breakfast we took a bus over to Tasman lake for a boat ride up to the Tasman glacier. At 23km, this is the longest glacier in New Zealand. We walked for 25 minutes across the terminal moraine to get to the boat dock.






The guide was great and got her safety points across with humor.


At first we wandered around the near end of the lake looking at icebergs while the guide told us about them.

Lateral moraine, 30m high.

Far end of lake with glacier 


90% of an iceberg is under water. The stream behind the iceberg is the exit for Tasman lake

Every time an iceberg breaks, it rolls over and around until 90% is underwater 

We then went up the lake to the glacier.

Tasman glacier is 30m above water and 270m below the water.

Lateral moraine 

See, the tiny boat next to the 30m glacier.

We had to stay 200m away from the glacier in case a piece broke off.


We ended the day with a drive to Wanaka and a wine tasting at the Nanny Goat winery.

Pukaki lake supplies 30% of New Zealand hydropower 




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