More walking...

---

We have made it to Mount Cook (Akaroa) National Park which is where the Southern Alps and Mount Cook (NZ's highest mountain) are. We arrived yesterday in very wet and grey weather. It was so misty we could not really see any mountains let alone Mount Cook! The rain put a bit of a dampener on our walking plans (we are not he die hard walkers that like to go out in any weather), so we vegged about for most of the afternoon. We did a short walk that took us up to a viewing platform over a lake. The lake had icebergs floating in it which was pretty cool.

We had an early start today (I misread the alarm clock by an hour so we were rather early leaving the hostel. Tim does not seem to believe that it was a genuine mistake!). The weather was much better, it was bright blue skies without a cloud in sight. :-) Needless to say this meant we got sunburnt. You burn VERY quickly here however much sun screen you put on. There is a huge hole in the ozone layer over NZ so the sun is very strong.

We decided to tackle the hike to Hooker Valley which was really good although very tiring. We went over several swing bridges which were very swingy! Those of you who have fear of heights would have hated them - they swung a lot! The path took us through lots of stunning scenery with snow capped mountains and mountain springs. On the way back (the walk was not circular) we passed hundreds of people heading the other way so it was just as well we set of early!

We are off in search of penguins tomorrow. Lets hope we see some...

---

Photos

Mount Cook
That's the postcard shot!

There is an iceberg behind you!
In the Hooker Valley. Unfortunately I am burning in a major way in this picture. I just don't know it!