Ah, the serenity!

Woke up to the surroundings coated in snow but not any deeper than when we went to bed and already lots of traffic on the roads so no stress about being snowed in.

After leaving Queenstown we were caught up in a long line of traffic all the way to Cromwell so we stopped at Jone's fruit barn and purchased supplies, ice creams, choc coated stuff, and healthy diced fresh pineapple for Jenny and a banana (singular) for Larry.

A casual drive to Mt Cook through the Lindis Pass. We were a bit apprehensive because of the snow in Queenstown but by the time we got to the pass it was very nice weather which made for a few nice photos and there was very little ice or snow on the well trafficked road.

Uneventful drive but as we got out of the car for lunch at Omarama there was a four wheel dive in the car park with a couple of dead deer on the roof rack. I suppose that's normal for outback NZ so whilst Larry didn't bat an eyelid, the other three didn't really appreciate dead animals with glassy eyes staring at them from a car outside a cafe.

After checking in to our very nice and warm unit, we put the hiking boots on, grabbed our jackets, gloves, hats and headed off on a walk along the Hooker Valley track. Quite cold but it did not bother us, must be acclimatised, very beautiful scenery and a delight to be walking at the base of these snow covered mountains.

The area where the accommodation is located was covered with snow and ice so it was fun to walk around in snow and make fresh footprints even though Larry had a slip and slide but recovered beautifully with the grace of a panther.  It took us a little while to work out what was making animal tracks in the snow but later saw a couple of decent sized bunnies so that mystery was solved.

Had a good sleep as we had a huge bed in a huge, warm room with decent sized pillows and the snow outside deadened any noise.  Queenstown was lovely but it was a bit noisy what with yobbos, traffic and rushing pipes so a good night's sleep was most welcome.  Woke up about 7.45am and had to check my watch three times as it was so dark still with the mountains all around us, plus a bit of cloud cover, that I thought it was about 4am!!

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As we left the following morning, Kate had blue Fanta leftover from yesterday and Jenny couldn't resist pouring a little bit on the fresh white snow outside our unit.  We left our own little mystery for the next guests!