Timaru Top 10 Holiday Park

... full day of walking in the foothills, seeing a little more of the bits we missed at the museum and then getting to lake Takepo for early evening. I could quite happily have stayed in bed and read my book in the sunshine but the schedule wouldn't wait. I get dressed in almost all my clothes as its bloody freezing this morning and we set off, taking just water and no food for the three hour round trip to the head of one of the Glaciers. The scenery is spectacular once again but the walk on the ...

On the way to Timaru we stopped off to see the Moreka Boulders which just seem to come out of the cliffs very strange. They are like huge round boulders, like big dinosaur eggs. I had a session of collecting more shells and lots of little pebbles so I could make some jewelery. While Julie and James spent their time putting dodgey bits of seaweed on their heads.

... cherries and now salmon. When we arrived at Mt. Cook it was perfectly clear and all the glaciers were visible. We did a steep, but short hike up to the Tasman glacier lake where some of the ice has broken off leaving ice-bergs floating in the lake. There is no plant life in the moraine so the landscape is strewn with rocks and boulders. The lake itself is sullied with churned mud giving it a grey ...

... to shake - it was like being in an earthquake - quite scary. No more views of Mt Cook - you wouldn't have even known that we were near any mountains. We went up to Mt Cook Village to see whether there was any chance that the weather would lift so we could do one of the walks into the valley. Hummmm not much chance - this rain is getting a bit tiresome. There is a fantastic Sir Edmund Hilary ...

After our soak in the hot springs we head off to our next destination, Mount Cook which is in the Mackenzie ranges and is where Sir Edmund Hilary did his training prior to his successful ascent of Mount Everest. The drive, once again, takes us through stunning landscapes across the plains and along the shoreline of Lake Pukaki. All the time we are virtually surrounded by snow-capped mountains. We arrive in the dark at Glentanner ...

Time to stock up on a few provisions, i.e. beer & crisps, as we´re going to be in the middle of nowhere for the next two nights. Yep, our home for the next 48 hours are the shearer´s quarters at a station in the shadows of Mt Cook. We´ve been treated to some unusual places to stay on this trip, and this is no exception. Absolutely stunning location, with beautiful views all around, but Mt Cook stands out in particular The place ...