
Lydia tucked in a Veronika bringing in more layers for our first night in the 'Challenger'

Waking up to this view from the 'Challenger.'

Veronika holds our first customer while Lydia gets the bands on.

The very cold tarn behind the Biv

The 'Challenger' also known as Miller Biv. Our base for this adventure

Cute fledgling kea!

Fledgling and Dad in the snow

Look who's curious about what I'm doing!

Dad looks on while a fledgling investigates

Baby kea nap time

... and back to investigating

Who's a handsome chappy?

Feeding time with dad

Looks yummy!

Note the bands on dad, he's met us before

Cute moment

All finished

Now I'm handsome and well-fed in the snow!

Got something to say

Dad shows us his back and the family heads off shortly after, the continuing snow sprinkles make it less than ideal catch weather anyway.

View from Miller Peak

It's pretty nice up here

Lydia on Miller Peak checking for radio signals from birds in the area

Beautiful black and white mountains of Fiordland

Lydia demonstrates just how cold it is on the summit.

View down to Lake Te Anau

Veronika finds somewhere scenic to hang out and try to warm up a little

I steal Veronika's spot and use it to my own advantage!

So many beautiful tarns on the way back to the 'Challenger'

Reflective too

Lydia and Veronika enjoy a much more pleasant time on the summit of Miller Peak

Beautiful Mt Cook Lily

Although this partial bloom so full of promise is potentially even more beautiful

Panorama of Lake Te Anau and the Stuart Mountains from Miller Peak

This fledgling is keen to play

He's already been to see us the day before though, hence the bands

Ready to fly

Veronika setting up for our evening catch session

A group of kea - dad and two fledglings - colluding as to how best to destroy our tents

Thinking hard about it

The whole family together - we never managed to get the mum though

Kea coming in to land

A pair of cuties - two fledgling kea

Still cute

Beautiful evening light in the Murchison mountains

Lydia handling the communications

Debating where we are going to go, given that we are going to run out of daylight, in Snag Burn Hut

Lydia and Veronika look after our lunchtime visitor while being eaten alive by the sandflies

Mt Cook Lillies in the valley

Beautiful view down the valley

View of the lake below Mt Max, our campsite was near the outlet

Darkest Weka I've ever seen - shame I couldn't get a better photo of it

Lovely lighting at the end of the day

Mt Max

I always think mountains are better with mood and clouds

Early light on the hills

Leaving our lake outlet campsite

Lydia and Veronika look out over the Snag Burn, our lake campsite in the background

Tarn on the saddle

Heading into the bush for a short stretch before going back up into the basin visible straight ahead

Absolutely magical forest

Beautiful waterway

Such wonderful light

Just a magical lunch spot

Emerging from the bush in the next basin over

Camp for the night

Pink clouds of sunset

I've been trying for a while to get a good image of a tent lit up at night - hopefully, this will be the first of many to come!

View from the saddle above camp back over to Miller Peak and the basin where our base hut it

Miller Biv in the beautiful evening light

Looking back at the saddle of where we came from

Wonderful evening light

The offending tarn in front of the hut

See I'm not making it up it is called the 'Challenger'

Tired-looking Mt Cook Lily

Interesting cloud formations - or just ones that indicate a shift in the weather

Sunset is always better when the weather is changing

Loving the cloud-bow at sunset

I love clouds