Mt Cook/Arrowtown

Our trip south from Kaikura was somewhat monotonous past Christchurch and the centre of the south island, but the interior around Mt. Cook is a different story. Here the sky was a bit hazy, but the mountains meet azure lakes in a startling aqua colour with white glacier tops. A farmstay bed and breakfast in Pleasant Point was an interesting visit. We leared that about the glacial run off that is has created a water source for this dry area that allows for more mixed farming and crops. They were growing olives and gave us some of their last crop of olive oil to try. It was a little green in color and tasted a little grassy but the texture was velvety and it tasted quite good. They were hoping to get a big yield this year. The area was too dry for grapes, but it clearly has changed over the past 25 years because of the water management and hydro electric damn at Twizel.

We drove to a beautiful lake in the ski areas of the Mt Cook foothills that is called Lake Tepeko. It was a beautiful lake surrounded by forest and moutains. The drive to Mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand, was spectacular. We walked along a trail to the glacial field and enjoyed the lovely cool breeze and view. The weather has been extremely hot and dry for most of our visit.

Mt. Cook glacier is still growing, as are the mountains. They have a lot of geothermal activity in this area and in Fiordland. The weather was perfect for a visit to Mt. Cook. It's something a shrine to Sir Edmund Hillary who was the first to climb Mt Everest. Lot's of climbers and serious trekkers in the area. We also came across a lot of tours and tour buses out to see the main sites in New Zealand

There is so much to see that we find ourselves in the car more than we like, but the view is stunning and the walks where we stop are usually enough to keep us exercised. We have yet to see the elusive Kiwi bird, but we did see the albotross and penquins.

There are lots of European and Asian visitors and cyclists n the road, but not that many North Americans at this time of year. We made our way towards Queeenstown, but decided to stay in Arrowtown which was a very old fashioned town that developed when the gold rush hit the area. It's a ski resort town. We took a picture of this little church with two huge red pines that were planted in front of it when it was built in the 1860s. The lovely orange flowers grow like our tiger lilly along the roadways.