Drive from New Zealand's fourth-largest lake, Lake Wānaka (192 square kilometers), to New Zealand's highest mountain, Mount Cook (3724 meters), in early October. The drive starts at "That Wanaka Tree" – a willow growing just inside the south end of Lake Wanaka, and ends at the Hermitage Hotel Mt Cook just opposite to Mount Cook. The trip is 208 km (129 miles) and takes about 2.5 hours. It is Southern Hemisphere late Spring, and you could experience the fast transition from green vegetation to snow-covered mountain within less than one hour.