We made sure the geology class had left before we got up for breakfast, wondering at the ice which had actually formed on our tent! At about 9, we drove to Mt Cook/Aoraki village and we started walking about 9.35.

We took the track to the Hooker valley, a very popular, 4 hour return walk. We passed the DOC capmsite and the Alpine Memorial, then went up to the lookout over Mueller Lake, a grey, milky glacial lake with icebergs in it. We crossed the first swingbridge, following the course of the river to Hooker Lake, where there were grand views of a snow-covered Mt Cook.

Mt Cook, at its highest peak, is 3754 m high. When we were in Wellington, a while back, an alpine guide was dragged to her death here, together with another climber, as the third person on the rope lost his footing and fell over a 200 m cliff, dragging the others with him. In fact, there are very few tracks in Mt Cook NP which are doable for non-alpinists and there are lots of warnings about the changeable weather.

Keiron and I were prepared for everything, but thankfully we could leave the weatherproofs in our bags, as it was a beautifully sunny day, if a bit chilly with the wind coming off the ice.

We had some lunch at the lake and headed back. We decided to make the sidetrip to Kea Point, a short walk that brought us to a platform with views of Mt Cook, this time from another angle. We ate the rest of our sandwiches (it was about 3pm by this time) and headedback to the car, where we arrived at 3.40.

Back at the campsite we relaxed in the car, the annoying brats already hogging the whole place. We had dinner outside, as it wasn't as cold as yesterday, and 'chilled' in the car.