Before long the color began to show in the east.
Mount Cook, the peak in the middle, in the picture above was still in the shadows. The Mountains to the west were beginning to show some color. 
The sun rise was really beginning to brighten
Mount Cook began to catch a bit of sun light on its eastern face.
In the picture below we noticed that there was a wisp of a cloud beginning to form at the peak.
We stood shooting pictures for several minutes and watched as the sun rose above the clouds and suddenly the bright colors were gone.
We headed back to the cabin for some breakfast and came across this pair of paradise ducks (actually they are geese). Later that morning when we were hiking up on the mountain side we saw some of these land in trees, which is a bit unusual.
We grabbed a quick breakfast and headed out for a hike up a mountain trail through some old growth forest.
Looking back at the grouping of cabins with the mountains in the background, Mount Cook is really beginning to cloud over. We had been told that most of the time Mount Cook was in the clouds and it is somewhat rare to actually see the peak. I guess we were fortunate to have seen it the day before and for a few minutes just after sun up.
The trail up into the old growth forest was quite a climb, steep slopes and lots of steps. The views were well worth the effort though.
There was a lot of interesting and vegetation, ferns and trees.
More view of the mountains and valley.
As we hiked along we could hear rushing water and finally spotted a place through the trees where we could just make out a series of cascading falls across a deep ravine.
We took a few “we were here” pictures and headed back down on the other side of the slope. Note that we were on the same trail. Karen thought it was a bit cooler, temperature wise than I did
Karen is really getting into this photography stuff.
A pedestrian bridge in the ravine below with the river feed by the waterfall.
There were several places along the trail where I would not have been surprised to spot some wild beast or an encampment of druids.
Back on sort of level ground we headed to the cabin to pack up and head out.
After leaving the cabin we drove around the mountains that we had seen from our cabin. It was a 15 kilometer drive back to a spot where we could get another view of Mount Cook from the other side. Its peak was almost all covered with clouds by the point.
Another view of the hotel/lodge at the foot of the mountain range.
There was another trail steeper that the one from earlier in the morning that had to be climbed.
On the way up we got several nice views of the valley floor between the mountain ranges.
There were several perched lakes like this one. 
You might notice that the trail is a bit steep and somewhat difficult. Here is another case of when Karen’s training came handy.
At the top of the trail was a glacial lake with pretty good sized glaciers/icebergs floating in it.
Floating icebergs
Another shot of Mount Cook in the clouds.
Heading back down to the car we had great views of the vast valley floor.
In the picture above you can just make out the trail in the foreground winding through the light green ground cover. In the middle ground on the right you can see the gravel road that lead out to the main road 15 K in the distance.
I handed off the camera to Karen who took most of the next few photos as we headed to Te Anau
We head out of the Mount Cook area, back past the big lake we had driven by on the way in. This time we encountered sheep. Lots of sheep
The landscape began to change again to a brownish arid look
The winding roads made for interesting driving and great views.
Then a ways down the road we began to see some green mixed in, mainly along the water ways.
Since Karen likes ceramics quite a bit when we saw a sign for this shop we had to stop. We ended up buying a couple of small pieces and headed down the road again.
We stopped a few minutes at this lake. Nice view!
We started to gain height again and encountered mountain streams, steep slopes and beautiful views.
In the photo above this wind mill farm along the top of this low mountain range was an interesting thing to see. you might have to do a close up to see the wind turbines. They sort of blend into the clouds.
By the time we got to Te Anau it was getting late. We were planning to head out early the next morning to go to Milford Sound so we turned in early.