Too Many Cooks - No Such Thing

After paragliding over Queenstown (and landing on a school's rugby field - the kids didn't even notice) - we headed to Mt. Cook (Aoraki), the highest peak in New Zealand and where that intrepid beekeeper, Sir Edmund Hillary, trained before knocking off Everest.

Every road is a scenic road here, but this one was extra spectacular as we drove into the Southern Alps.  Burbly streams surrounded by acres and acres of lupins

And then Mt. Cook was in view, along Lake Pukaki, which is a brilliant shade of aqua, but opaque, both from the silt off the mountains.

Over the next day and a half, we got all sorts of views of this mountain...at dawn from our room::

Complete with rainbow:

From a helicopter:

From another mountain where the helicopter landed...

And we were fortunate to catch it reflected in a glassy Lake Pukaki as we drove to Christchurch

The New Zealand part of this trip is almost over...so sad.