After a bit colder evening during which we changed to long pants and put on a fleece top, the night was mild and the weather was very nice when we got up. From Geraldine we drove towards Mt Cook with the first stop being the historic little Church of the Good Shepherd on the edge of the turquoise Lake Tekapo, the first of a number of turquoise, glacial lakes in the area. The church is also the first major tourist attraction we have visited in a while, with lots of people walking around taking pictures. From there on there were tourists at every roadside or other lookout, and at e.g. information centres, and many small and larger camper vans seen travelling down the road or in parking lots of any sort of attraction. We tried to capture the turquoise colour of Lake Pukaki, however, it is surprisingly hard to do it true justice. Clouds had started to form in the direction in which we were heading, and it was raining by the time we got to the village of Mt Cook where we went to the DOC information centre to see if they had more insight in the weather and could offer suggestions for walks that might be good in spite of the weather. The Tasman Glacier walks seemed to be the best option. Tasman Glacier is located one valley over from Mt Cook, and the weather was indeed better there. We walked to the lookout - which was very busy with tourists - and looped various other shorter walks together to cover most sights in the area and at the same time staying somewhat off the beaten track. The weather went from cool to sunny and warm, from dry to rainy and dry again, with gusts of warm wind on a regular basis. We originally considered staying at the DOC campground in the Hooker Valley, close to Mt Cook, but with the rainy weather in the area we decided to drive to Twizel, the nearest town some 70 kms from Mt Cook. The weather in Twizel looked good: mid-twenties and dry, so we pitched our tent at a campground there. The weather forecast for the Mt Cook area for tomorrow morning is good, so we intend to drive back out there early in the morning.
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