Day 5 - Mt Cook
After an overnight fresh coating of snow, we were treated to magnificent views of the Southern Alps -- all, that is, except for the tallest of them all, Mt Cook ... we also saw the alpine Lakes Pukaki and Tekapo on our way back to Ashburton
December 3, 2004

01-Lupin-Mountains It's hard to beat lupin lining the roadside and with freshly snow-capped mountains as a backdrop on a beautiful morning 02-MtCookRoad Mt Cook Road 03-LakePukaki Lake Pukaki 04-LakePukaki The stunning turqoise waters of Lake Pukaki 05a-LakePukaki Lake Pukaki 05b-LakePukaki Lake Pukaki 05c-LakePukaki Lake Pukaki 05d-LakePukaki Lake Pukaki 05-LakePukaki Lake Pukaki 06-MountainRoad Mt Cook Road ... New Zealand was the first time I had ever seen mountains before, so I was rather in awe of their rugged and majestic beauty 07-MountainRoad Mt Cook Road 08-OneLaneBridgeSign One lane bridge sign 09-MountainRoad Mt Cook Road 10-SouthernAlps Southern Alps 11-MountainRoad Mt Cook Road 12-SouthernAlps Southern Alps 13-MtCookVillage Mt Cook Village 14-DadMomJared-MtCook Dad, Mom & me, with Mt Cook hidden by cloud in the background 15-MomDad-Aoraki Mom & Dad, as close to Aoraki (Mt Cook) as we were gonna get without hiking 16-DavidMomDad-MtCook David, Mom & Dad with Mt Cook in the background 17-Aoraki Aoraki/Mt Cook 18-SouthernAlps Southern Alps 19-MtCookVillage Mt Cook Village, the starting point for many an attempted climb of Mt Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand, at some 21,000 feet (if I recall correctly) 20-SouthernAlps Southern Alps 21-Cottage-Mountains Cottage in Mt Cook Village 22-CloudyMountains A storm the previous night had dropped a fresh coating of snow on the mountains, and while it was crystal clear east of the mountains, the storm was still clinging to the higher elevations 23-SouthernAlps Southern Alps 24-SnowCappedPeaks Snow-capped peaks 25-SnowyMountains Snowy mountains 26-SouthernAlps Southern Alps 27-Aoraki Aoraki, the Maori name for Mt Cook 28-MtCookRoad Mt Cook Road 29-MtCookRoad Mt Cook Road 30-LakePukaki Lake Pukaki, one of a chain of lakes in the central South Island separated by canals and hydroelectric dams ... the other lakes in the chain are Lake Ohau and Lake Tekapo 31-LakePukaki Beautiful Lake Pukaki 32-LakePukaki This photo isn't doctored at all, this was the real colour of Lake Pukaki 33-LakePukakiA Lake Pukaki 34-LakePukakiB Lake Pukaki 35-LakePukakiC Lake Pukaki 36-LakePukakiD Lake Pukaki 37-Jared-LakePukaki Twins fan at Lake Pukaki! 38-Lichen Lichen 39-LakePukaki Lake Pukaki, with Mt Cook and the Southern Alps in the background 40-LakePukaki Lake Pukaki 41-LakePukaki Lake Pukaki 42-Alps Southern Alps 43-ChurchOfTheGoodShepherd Church of the Good Shepherd, in the town of Lake Tekapo 44-Interior The interior of the Church of the Good Shepherd 45-WindowView The view out the window of the Church of the Good Shepherd ... this window is behind the pulpit, so I don't know how on earth the congregation could possibly concentrate on what the pastor has to say when he has to compete with such a beautiful view! 46-RightView Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Tekapo 47-LeftView Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Tekapo 48-CenterView Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo 49-GoodShepherdView Church of the Good Shepherd ... a picture almost just like this was in the Gustavus International Photo Contest in March 2004, but I didn't know where it was from, so when I walked in the door and saw this window, cross and view, I instantly recognized it and remembered how much I loved the photo I'd seen of it months earlier 50-Church-LakeTekapo Church of the Good Shepherd 51-Mom-Lupin Mom enjoying the lupin between the Church of the Good Shepherd and Lake Tekapo 52-Lupin-LakeTekapo Lupin and Lake Tekapo 53-Mom-Lupin Mom loves the lupin 54-Lupin-Church Lupin and the Church of the Good Shepherd 55-DadDavid-Church Dad and David outside the Church of the Good Shepherd 56-Jared-Lupin I love lupin too, they're my favourite flowers along with iris 57-Lupin-LakeTekapo Lupin and Lake Tekapo 58-SheepdogStatue Sheepdog monument at Lake Tekapo 59-SheepdogStatue Sheepdog statue, with the Church of the Good Shepherd visible in the background 60-LakeTekapo Lake Tekapo 61-DogStatue Sheepdog statue 62-Lupin-LakeTekapo Lupin and Lake Tekapo ... there were colours of lupin in NZ that I'd never seen before in my life, like apricot and yellow, plus a couple others 63-Lupin Lupin 64-GoodShepherd Church of the Good Shepherd

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