Hey y'all - you are still out there! Thanks for the comments. Good to hear from you!

 We had another travel day from Queensland through the centre of the South Island to the town of Twizel . [Sigh]. It wasn't too bad though. We travelled the Lindis Pass, the main inland link, which climbs through rocky gorges before reaching the tussock-covered hills. Tussock is that hay like grass you see on the hills. 
 
We stopped at Lake Pukaki, in Mackenzie County, that gave us a great view of Mount Cook. The turquoise waters are just fantastic.
 
We visited Mount Cook (a village, a national park and the name of New Zealands highest mountain at 3,754 meters). The locals call this Aoraki. The park includes a mix of rocks and glaciers, as well as alpine plants including the world's largest buttercup, the Mount Cook lily and, of course, spectacular views. Didn't see the big lily but did see some buttercups on our 3 hour hike through the Hooker Valley to Hooker Lake near the base of Mount Cook. Even though it was not a strenuous hike everyone's legs were feeling it at the end. We were fighting a fierce wind the whole way to Lake Hooker, the farthest we could go. 

Maori legend has it that the mountain and its companion peaks were formed when a boy named Aoraki and his 3 brothers came down from the heavens to visit Papatuanuku (Earth Mother) in a canoe . The canoe overturned, and as the brothers moved to the back of the boat they turned to stone. 

After our our hike we made our way to the town of Twizel, just south of Lake Pukaki. The town was built in 1968 to service construction of the nearby hydroelectric power station, and was due to be abandoned in 1984 when the construction project was completed. Now the town is having a last laugh as housing prices are increasing and new lakeside subdivisions are being built to take advantage of the relaxed lakes and mountains lifestyle. We went for dinner at 8:00 and you could roll a ball down the Main Street. We didn't see a soul until we entered the sole restaurant. 

Our tour is coming to an end tomorrow as we end off in Christchurch.