From Christchurch I was going to Mt Cook. Of all the places I was going on this part of the trip Mt. Cook was the one I was most looking forward to. I had booked a trip kayaking amongst the glaciers on the Tasman glacier lake and was planning on some hikes through the beautiful alpine mountain scenery (that was what made me upgrade my walking boots)! Unfortunately mother nature had other plans. The bus to Mt cook included a couple of stops - one at the beautiful lake tekapo - however it was raining so much I decided to stay on the bus (I was coming back the same way anyway). As we travelled towards Mt Cook village the bus driver stated many times "from here you would normally have magnificent views of Mt. Cook". But we didn't it was cloudy and raining and the weather was crap!

When I arrived and got settled in I decided I would go for a walk anyway - at the end of the day I had come all this way and who knows the weather might clear up so I headed for a 4 hour return walk to the hooker valley! The weather didn't improve - in fact the further up the valley I went the worse it got! I would imagine on a good day the walk would be stunning, beautiful bule glacier lakes, you cross a few swing bridges and all the time Mt. cook would be appearing in all it's majestic glory over the other high peaks. This, however is not what I was treated to - it was wet, windy and at times there was hail, but I powered on nonetheless. I finished my walk and was absolutely drenched - for a while I was very impressed with the new walking boots for a couple of hours it was only my feet that were dry but then they were wet! I think it was because my trousers were so wet they were actually leaking water in through the top of my boots!

Anyway I completed my walk and returned to my hostel where I spent the rest of the weekend. The amazing Kayak trip was cancelled, and I wasn't planning on going for another walk in the rain! I did manage to have a good time though. It was nice to just relax and watch a couple of films and on the Saturday night I managed to find a few people who were interested in chatting while enjoying a couple of beverages - we even ended up at a random party in a (I don't want to say shed but it basically was a shed) shed. After Mt. cook I was headed north where I was hopeful the weather would be better and I could tick off the last few things I wanted to see before leaving NZ. Actually as soon as I got on the bus out of Mt. Cook the weather was great!