This morning we looked out of the window in the hope that maybe the clouds would have cleared enough to let us have a glimpse of the mountain before we left. No such luck!!

As we set off down the road away from Mount Cook Village we paused by the side of the lake to look back and saw the clouds break just enough to show some mountain tops peaking through. Yes,there really are some mountains back there!

It was a long day on the road. Our first stop was at Lake Tekapo where the sun came out and we had some glorious views across the lake towards the mountains. We drove down to the waterfront to take advantage of a couple of famous photo opportunities. The first was the bronze statue commemorating the high-country sheepdog which has played such an essential role in building New Zealand's prosperity. The second was the beautiful Church of the Good Shepherd. It is a very small, stone church built by the edge of the lake and so has stunning views across the lake to the mountains through the window behind the altar. Something for the parishioners to focus on if the sermon was too long and boring!