Alps View

Sunshine!!  Real, bright, warm sunshine that lasted all day with not a spot of rain to be seen.  And how different everything looked, not least of all, because there were no clouds obscuring the Alps peaks.  Awesome!

Walked the route back to the 'road' then onto the beach and back to the van this morning (though I missed the camp entry point as it was obscured by vegetation so ended up doing a bit more than the loop!  Watched some cricket this afternoon (good to see the NZ regaining some consistency and setting a hopefully impossible target for England.  2 days left to bowl them out......)  This evening went for another shorter walk around some old gold mining dredgings nearby then back on to the beach for the sundown.  Glorious day.

This pic - Mt Tasman on the left, Mt Cook on the right, the remnants of the cloud cover lower down and the dense Westland scrub and bush in the foreground.  It's amazing that there's just 32kms from where I am on the Coast to Mt Cook (as the crow flies) and that 32 kms holds an incredible array of vegetation and land forms (think dense bush, braided rivers, lakes, glacial valleys.......) and that 32 kms climbs from sea level to 3274m.  Seeing this view brings home why this area is such a special area.  It's a pity that the clouds have been obscuring this view for the past week or so but very pleased to see it today.