Queenstown to Cook

Raining this morning and it has cooled off also.Sometimes, even though you are off to have fun, it is hard to leave someplace. Today was like that. We are leaving Gill's this morning. And in these few short days she has become such a good friend. We feel very blessed. But on we must go, so we might as well do something fun, in this case a jetboat ride on the shotover river. What a rush, flying down this rock walled, zig zag river, turquoise colored from glacial silt, inches from the rock face, spinning, darting, splashing, laughing, hooting. Hard to put into words. Good stuff. Then, once our heart rates were back to normal and our fingers had thawed out the heated grab bars-pretty nice), we got on the road towards Mount Cook, the highest in N Zed.On the way we drove through low clouds and drizzle thru such varying terrain, from rushing river canyons to rolling mountain sheep strewn passes to huge plains. Then as we started up the turn off to Mt. Cook the bottoms off the clouds turned the most interesting color of blue. So strange until we peaked a small hill to look down upon the most striking aqua-turquoise lake. Really unique, even if you have seen the likes of a Lake Louise in Canada or such. We kept on towards Mt. Cook though we can only see it's base as it is shrouded in clouds. A brief glimpse of a glacier teased us on with the hope that the morning will bring a clear sky. The visitors center hear is excellent with all kinds of dispalys about the Southern Alps and the history of mountain climbing in N.Z. ( This was Sir Edmond Hillary's training ground for his Everest climb). There is also a big hotel here, quite nice and I am sure quite pricey. But we have Fia T, so we are well and good if not a bit chilly ( It really has cooled off!). The big fluffy duvet will be extra nice tonight.