The weather has been so outstandingly miserable today. It worsened overnight with a storm coming in and some impressive thunder and lightning and has rained non-stop all day.

Too heavy for any more walking than 1-2 km, even with our wet weather gear. And the clouds have precluded any decent views anyway. We went to the Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre which is a small museum at The Hermitage, which is a large hotel. They also had a theatre and showed an interesting mix of ‘movies’. These included: Mount Cook Magic 3D Movie and documentaries about Edmund Hillary and Mountain Search and Rescue. They also had a special ceiling that enabled the planetarium style shows – one about black holes and another about the creation of the universe.

Watching these movies, checking out the displays and having lunch at the café at the hotel were all we have done today really. We are now back at our accommodation, chilling out after dinner, playing some Bananagrams since we have already spent way too much time in front of a screen today. I just checked the forecast and there heaps of rain expected overnight, but significantly easing from about 10am tomorrow. We have a big drive to Chirstchurch, but will hopefully get a few hours here before we leave where it will be fine enough to walk to the lookouts for the glacier.