On the morning of the 29/1/13 we loaded up the Nissan and got back on the road, we were headed for Mount Cook but were making a stopover at Lake Tekapo. The trip was like judging a Postcard competition, every turn provided more beautiful scenery than the one before. Our accommodation at the lakeside was in the form of a cabin that overlooked the unfeasibly turquoise waters nestled in a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. The cabin itself contained not only a double bed but also bunk beds, useful if we were to fall out. A barbeque in front of the lake washed down with a few "stubbies" and we were looking around for "Uncle Buck" to teach us our wilderness craft.

The next day it was Mount Cook (Aoraki in Maori meaning Cloud Piercer), the tallest mountain in Australasia. We arrived in the village and our bedroom window looked out directly at the peak, couldn't be better. Nearby was the Sir Edmund Hillary museum, who not only was a national hero but he did much of his Everest training on Mt Cook. Incidentally for his expedition to the South Pole (news to us) he took three tractors manufactured by Massey Ferguson, in Coventry.

The second day we went on a walking expedition to find the face of the Tasman Glacier and having found it and inspired by the ghost of Sir Edmund, we decided to take a more adventurous and uncharted route back. We scaled a mini mountain working like a perfect team, it could have been Hilary and Tenzing in perfect climbing harmony - Unfortunately, we got lost and we are not entirely sure if Tenzing ever called Hillary "an irresponsible Irish Pratt" but as the light was dimming and the water almost exhausted we sighted a familiar landmark. Using this new data, the location of the peak and the position of the dying sun, we used a process of triangulation to plot our position and set a new course, returning safely to our transportation (the trusty Nissan). We made it back and celebrated with a couple of beers at the Old Mountaineers bar before heading home. EH and TN would have been proud.