High and Mighty!

Next on the hit list was a visit to the Southern Alps and NZ's highest peak, Mount Cook. The original intention was just to drive up, have a look around and take a few snaps. After a wonderful scenic drive up to the area along the shores of Lake Tekapo and Pukaki......



.......we arrived at the information centre for Mount Cook.
Then we saw helicopters landing and taking off and my eyes lit up!! Not sure about it in the first place, Dipi eventually came round after we talked turkey on the money front. We decided to treat ourselves to the top of the range helicopter flight (of course!) around the mountains and glaciers and it was money very well spent!!
Think a few of these snaps tell the story......


Just coming through some clouds on the way up....


.....wow!



...we even landed on one of the mountains and got out to play in the snow!


After our landing we then took off once more to go over the peaks and look out over the glaciers and out to the west coast of New Zealand......



And here are a couple of our view on the way back to the landing pad...


AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!! (jumping up and down)

The rest of the east coast was fairly tame and uneventful in comparison! We did spot some penguins (yellow eyed penguins, the rarest in the world!). Dipi managed to get some good shots of a juvenile one morning, not before surprising and getting chased by a very angry seal on the beach though! (wish I'd been there to see that one!)