Rest break

We are now entering the Mt Cook National Park, one of 14 National Parks in New Zealand. The area of the park is 70,696 hectares and has the highest mountains and largest glaciers in New Zealand it was established as a National Park in 1953. The Maori name for Mt Cook is Aoraki which means ‘Sky Piercer’. It is a rugged land of ice and rock with 19 mountain peaks over 3,000 metres including Mt Cook which is 3,753 metres the highest mountain in New Zealand, however, Mt Cook used to be 3,763 metres.

Lake Pukaki is the largest of three roughly parallel alpine lakes running north-south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin on New Zealand's South Island. The others are Lakes Tekapo and Ohau.

The majestic setting of the Church of the Good Shepherd attracts visitors from all over the world. We encourage you to take a few quiet minutes to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the lake and mountains; in our opinion it is God's greatest cathedral.

Geraldine is a popular little town for arts and crafts and market days and has a reputation as a home for gifted artists and talented people such as Austen Deans and John Badcock who have their studios in the township. There are edible creations as well such as the local Geraldine cheese maker, chocolatier and the internationally recognised Barkers fruit products all have outlets in the town. We stop at the Kiwi Country Visitor centre for morning and afternoon tea breaks along with a comfort stop