Sir Edmund Hillary, Mt Cook & Lake Tasmin

Hillary first came to the southern alps around Mt Cook aged 18, and it was here that he developed his love of mountaineering. He finally summated Mt Cook , the highest mountain in Australasia, 9 years later in 1947, then going on to become famous worldwide for conquering Everest in 1953.

We’ve been up to the base of Mt Cook and visited the Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre – newly opened in 2008, just weeks before his death. Sadly there was quite a bit of cloud around in the mountains, so can’t show you a pic of Mt Cook! His statue, just outside the centre has him standing looking up towards it

Visited a cool lake though – literally! Lake Tasmin only formed 30 years ago, when a huge load of ice sheared off the Tasmin glacier in the next valley . We walked up the valley to see the lake, complete with icebergs floating on it! And, of course, complete with little boats of Japanese tourists taking pictures!