We left Queenstown for Mount Cook on 26th March. On the way out of Queenstown we stopped at the first ever bungee jumping site at Kawarau Bridge. People have been jumping off the bridge since 1988.

I tried to catch some people jumping but kept pressing the shutter too early.

After the Bungee detour, we made our way to the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park (www.doc.govt.nz/../aoraki-mount-cook-national-park). The park includes 19 peaks over 3,000m of which Mount Cook is the highest at 3,724m (12,218 feet). Mount Cook used to be higher but it shrunk by 40m its peak feel off during an avalanche in 1991.

We set off on a pleasant hike up the Hooker Valley to Hooker Lake.

Further up the valley you get a good view of some of the glaciers.

Unfortunately our view of Mount Cook was lost in the clouds.

The melt water running off the glaciers is a milky white colour due to the minute particles of ground rock that are created by the glacier scraping over the underlying rock.

The path ends at the lookout over Hooker lake and its icebergs.

On the way back you get a great view of the Hooker Valley.

We spent the evening at the Aoraki/Mount Cook Alpine Lodge which is a contender for best view out of a hotel windows for this trip.