Mt Cook, New Zealand

From Akoroa we headed inland across Mckenzie country towards Mt Cook. Man this place is just straight out of Lord of the Rings. Diane keeps laughing as I quote lines from the film as we go. "Rohan my Lord, is ready to fall"


I just had to stop the truck and get out. Just to appreciate the scale of it all, breathtaking.

Approaching the camp at Mt Cook for the first night. The wind picked up in the night, about 2am the van was shaking around like a leaf and Diane was freaking out. I reluctantly crawled into the driver seat and moved it to more sheltered spot.

Took Diane a good while to roll this snowball :) Now try chucking it ha ha didn't think of that did ya heh!

Stood on a huge chunk of ice in the glacial lake at the foot of the Tasman Glacier, the water is a milky greenish colour from all the dissolved minerals reflecting light.

Stop it :)

Ah there she is the totally excellent Max and Paddy waggon. Stop anywhere and make your lunch and a brew.

The Tasman Glacier looking like some huge earth work, just awesome to see. I've never got up close to a glacier, its almost like a living thing moving inexorably down the valley, grating the rock like it is cheese !

Well this was as far as we could go, after 4 hours hard walking we had reached the trail head. Behind us Mt Cook and a converging mass of glaciers. On the way up we caught sight of a mountain goat standing on a rocky out crop. Still as stone, not a sound. He glanced casually down at us looking aloof with his beard and horns. Made me feel totally out of place. This really is such a wilderness.