Mt Cook (Aoraki), New Zealand.

Lake Tekapo - we passed this lake on the way to Mount Cook.

The Church of the Good Shepherd on Lake Tekapo

The Maori's named Mount Cook Aoraki - the cloud piercer. It stands at 3754m and is the tallest mountain in Australasia.

Mount Cook - the peak on the left

We made the drive to the village which sits at the base of the mountain. It was a pretty drear place - devoid of much colour, but then I guess that would detract from the scenery thats all around. We headed straight up to the Hermitage, the famous (expensive) hotel and sipped on a pot of tea. It was dead in the hotel - they dont get many guest during the winter months. It reminded me of the film "The Shining". Quite creepy!

View up to the Hermitage - its the dark building in the middle

We reluctantly headed back to our cold van and tried to sleep. It hurt to breathe the air it was so cold. It got down to -7 degrees during the night. We woke up to ice and frost inside the van! My tootbrush was even frozen!

Ice in the van

Frozen!

We went for a walk in the snow up the Hooker Valley Trail.

Mueller Lake - we were watching avalanches fall from up high on the mountains while we could hear the ice cracking in the lake below as the water flowed out.

Looking out over the valley.

We got back to the van and cooked up lunch. The water in our water tub had frozen solid so we had to melt the snow to wash up!

Melting snow!

From here we went on our way down to Oamaru. I had to get Reena to stop soo many times along the way so I could jump out and take photos. I couldn't upload enough of them to show you all the beauty of this place. Its easy to see why Lord of the Rings was filmed in this country. It has an added element - hard to describe what it is exactly, but it gives the country an almost mystical feel.

Along the road to Omarama - It was like something out of Narnia

I dont know how many times the frost had refrozen - the ice crystals were massive!

The sun started to set - Ben More range

Lake Ben More

Reena waiting for me to jump back in!