After a leisurely 2 hour drive we arrived at our next destination – the astonishing Mt Cook. As we drove up from Tekapo the weather was fantastic but by the time we got to the camp site the clouds had started to come in. We are in New Zealand after all.

We have two nights in this area but are staying in two different campsites. Saturday was the White Horse Hill Campsite which is a ‘bare bones’ Department of Conservation (DOC) site. This means no power, no showers, minging toilets – in the middle of nowhere. Luckily we have salmon, quinoa, salad and some wine. Well – one has to try. Whilst we are lucky with our fully kitted out camper van, the locals seem to be far more inventive!

After finding a pitch in the crazily busy campsite, we headed off on the Kea Point trail. This 5k return trip took us up to the Kea Point look-out where we got a rewarding view of Mt Cook.

Which brings us to Sunday and up to date with our blog. We got up early (well early for us) as we were going to the Hooker Valley Track, the most popular track in the Mackenzie area. Unfortunately the clouds were very thick and the usual views of the mountains were obscured. But we enjoyed the trail all the same and explored a little alpine tarn along the way.

The Hooker Valley Trail has three swing bridges – which we have decided we don’t like. Far too bouncy ! But we manned up and got across them there and back; although we had little choice 🙂

I even got Sue to pose on one !

After having some lunch we departed the DOC site for Glentanner Holiday Park – some 30 miles down the road. Glentanner, by far, has the best campground showers we have ever encountered. UK sites listen up…

After a little stroll down to Lake Pukaki we came back to the camper van to catch up on our blogging, as we seem to have a good signal. As we prepared dinner, the clouds broke over the top of Mt Cook and we were rewarded with a great sight.

And that was our day – and we are up to date ! Tonight if the clouds stay away we are going to get up at 0300 to look for the Milky Way. Well… Odie is going to get up and wake Sue if there is anything interesting to see 🙂 🙂

We will let you know how we get on.