Woke to blue skies, sunshine, & fantastic views of the snow capped mountains in the distance - definitely whiter than the day before! But with a really wintery chill to the air, when the wind blew.

Made good time getting morning stuff done, & were leaving the campsite by 9am. Stopped a few km out of Fairlie for a quick photo session (kids + mountains in the background), then drove on to Lake Tekapo. Another quick stop for scenic photos, then to the Church of the Good Shepherd, for yet more! Half hour drive to the Mt Cook Lookout & information site - perfect view of Mt Cook, with just a few clouds at the very summit - just gorgeous! Stopped at Peter's Lookout & walked down to the shore of Lake Pukaki.

Then north, towards the mountains. Brief stop just after we crossed the snowline, to throw a snowball or two! Then to Aoraki Mount Cook village & the information centre. A good 4 to 5 inches of snow on the ground, in places - and just the right type of snow for making really good snowballs! D landed a few on M's backside, much to everyone's amusement! M also scored a direct hit or two, especially from point blank range!

Fantastic information centre - lots of geology, weather and climbing displays, plus a riveting "mountain rescue" video & puzzles (from Puzzling World, of course!) that kept the boys & girls (respectively) entertained for an hour or so!

Ate lunch at the (freezing cold) communal "public shelter", as the café didn't take the hint that we would like to eat our lunch in front of their nice warm log fire! More snowballs, then back to the café for coffee & hot chocs all round! By this time, it had started snowing, & the wind was getting up, so it was getting very cold outside. Also, the clouds were now obscuring the view, so we decide to head back. Bid farewell to the mountains ("see you on the other side in a week or two!"), and soon left the cloud & snow behind, on the drive back to Fairlie.