12-11-10

It was a long night of heavy rain and wind.  You could hear some of the gusts starting way up the valleys and it sounded like a MAC truck coming our way and you'd just lie there and wait for the gust to slam the van.  I seriously considered getting up and turning Serena head into the wind because we would rock so bad in some of the gusts.  Even with the storm raging we both found a way to catch some good zzz's. However, the morning brought an amazing day to wake up to, some clouds left of from yesterday's storm but lots of sun everywhere except around the mountains, the winds were gone and it was quite pleasant out.  We heard a ruches high up on one of the mountains to the west of our camp just as we were stirring and looked up to see dust cloud and some death cookies (rocks) flying from a rock avalanche high up on the mountain, wow glad we were not any where near that shoot.  We got moving early and ate a good breakfast in the food shelter then talked to the German girl and a DOC ranger about the best prospects of a hike.  After coming up with a plan we set a meeting time with Katerina and headed up to Seely Tarns for a look around.

The hike was spectacular with a steep trail quickly gaining elevation and giving beautiful views down the valley and of the massive mountains and glaciers all around.  Once at Seeley Tarns we were able to capture some good shots of Aoraki as the clouds blew away then in again.  We were climbing on a ridgeline that rose 2000 meters up from the valley floor with alpine tussock grasses and bush but just to the north we were dwarfed by Mt Sefton with it's huge cliffs and glaciers.  Down the valley the rocky mountains met the green valley, it was a picturesque hike in all directions.  On the way down we were spotted and checked out by several different Kea's but these were true mountain birds and did not come close to bug us for food like their bothers down south.

Made it down in perfect time to meet Katerina, we commented on how punctual we are… Loaded up the van and headed north again.  The lake looked even more blue today and as we drove along it we were able to capture some good pics of the unbelievable color and more shots of Aoraki looming above the other peaks, more noticeable as we were able to get some distance from it.  We continued on and dropped of Katerina in Lake Takapo then sped across the HOT Canterberry plains.  

It was a long day but we made good time and covered quite a bit of distance stopping in Kaikoura one last time for a takeaway burger  then on the road again pulling into Marfells Beach just in time to catch a beautiful sunset over the ocean and hit the sack.