Last night we went stargazing.  As Lake Tekapu reputedly has the second darkest skies in the southern hemisphere it’s perhaps unsurprising that it’s a place where people spend a lot of their time looking up at the heavens.  So last night we went out to a small observatory just outside town where two very nice, but very nerdish, young men entertained us for a couple of hours by letting us handle their 12 inch instruments.  Live long and prosper.

Today we ‘did’ Mt Cook/Aoraki  – at 3,724 meters it’s the highest mountain in New Zealand and pretty spectacular from wherever you happen to be perched.  We took the 50km road up along the side of Lake Pukaki to Mt Cook/Aoraki Village and, after a coffee and a slightly overdue Skype call to son Thomas in Canada,  decided to trek up the Hooker Valley to the glacial lake at the foot of the mountain.

More spectacular views and even more pictures – I have a feeling that the slideshow in the Village Hall is going to run to a couple of evenings!

Footsore, but more than a little smug at having overtaken loads of people half our age on the trail up and down the mountain in temperatures over 30 degrees, we climbed back on board our covered wagon and drove the 70 or so km to Omarama.  Another hard day at the office!