Moving onwards towards Mount Cook, we spent the night at the side of the spectacular Lake Pukaki. Not only was the camping was free, but we had one of the best views in New Zealand outside our “room”. I was hoping to wake up to sunrise over the opaque blue lake with snow capped mountains in the distance. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be as the wind became so strong over night rocking the van so much that we had to retreat behind the trees at about 2 am.

Taking the winding road up to Mount Cook the weather deteriorated. With heavy rain we spent the morning in the informative visitor centre hoping it would improve in the afternoon. It didn’t, and as a result we spent several hours in the van with snow falling all around. Reading, writing, drinking tea and watching the snow settle to pass the time, with no heating it was pretty cold and by late afternoon we ended wearing pretty much everything we had including the duvets.

Thankfully the next day was fine and we had the added bonus of fresh snow fall. We started off with a couple of hours walking up to and along side the massive 27km long Tasman glacier through virgin snow. Our view was obscured by large stony ridge (dumped there incosiderately by the glacier) but climing this at a couple of spots afforded us breathtaking views.

I remember walking along and thinking that at that moment things just couldn’t get any better. It is hard to describe my feelings but it something I tend to get whenever I’m above the snowline surrounded by towering peaks, all illuminated by a bright sun and clear blue sky. The lack of people around, apart from my darling girlfriend (on hand to keep my hair under control), only added to the feeling.

After lunch walked up past the Mueller Glacier, then towards the Hooker Glacier. A great walk in itself, crossing two precarious suspension bridges with the sky clearing as we went, culminating in wonderful views of the impressive Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain at 3754 metres. Truly an incredible sight.

With more rain and snow forecast for the following day we decided to move on from Mount Cook, changing our plan and next destination with the idea of getting another day’s snowboarding near to Wanaka before all of the resorts closed for the season.

Unfortunately on the Thursday it rained. Friday it was clear on the slopes, raining below, but due to gail force winds the resort was closed. The Saturday we’d been promised great conditions, which it turned out there were, but the road to the ski slope was completely closed due to the heavy snowfall. Gutted. Having waited around for three days we decided to move on, but not before we did the wonderful Mount Iron walk which afforded us such views as this…

Our time in Wanaka was not a complete waste of time though. Among other things we visited Cinema Paradiso, and excellent little Cinema full of character. Along with a fabulous cafe / bar serving wonderful freshly baked cookies along with a beverage of your choice. The cinema was itself offered a random collection of comfy sofas to choose from including the front bench seat from a Morris Minor (Morris Minor still attached).

With the rain pouring we saw Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others. A fascinating and moving film about set in the German Democratic Republic. Watch it!