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 T...

The sky is still grey, even if the rain is more or less gone so little chance of doing any exciting activities. Never mind, it's good to have a day to relax and catch up. After breakfast we went to the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre and spent a fascinating hour looking at all the exhibits. Lots of information about Sir Ed and his life, and about the Everest expedition. Also lots of interesting information about The Hermitage Hotel and its many incarnations ove...

We woke to clouds and persistent rain. What a pity we didn't seize the opportunity to take photos of Mount Cook yesterday! No chance at all today, by the look of it. Clearly the weather wiped out any chance of scenic flights, so we ended up moving our Glacier Explorer trip forward from tomorrow to 11 am this morning. We wrapped ourselves up against the weather and met our guide in the lobby. A quick dash through the rain to the waiting bus, alas a bit too fast ...

Time to say goodbye to Queenstown. The weather has been absolutely stunning during our 3 days here, hot and sunny with clear blue skies, nothing short of glorious! Today dawns a little less exciting with grey skies and a chill wind. After packing up the car we had one last breakfast in the delightful Eichardt's bar before setting off on our journey through the mountains to Aoraki Mount Cook National Park. Just a short distance down the road we made our first sto...