Lake Pukaki and Mt Cook.NZ
Lake Pukaki is a shimmering blue jewel set into a grand alpine playground - an iconic New Zealand landscape of high mountain peaks, glacier fed alpine lakes and golden tussocks stretched beneath an endless sky.
At the head of Lake Pukaki, New Zealand's highest peak Aoraki Mt Cook dominates the turquoise ribbon of lake that fills an elongated ancient glacier-carved valley. The craggy peak draws serious alpinists and mountaineers from around the world, and the surrounding region is a popular destination for star gazing, winter snow sports, cycling, summer hiking and walking, and romantic getaways.
Sir Peter Jackson chose this part of the Southern Alps - the main divide stretching north-south the length of New Zealand's South Island - as the setting for ‘Lake-town’ in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Original public domain image from Flickr