We climbed up the Mueller hut  trail – a 3 mile hike up about 3000 vertical feet, right up into the birthplace of some of the snow fields and glaciers surrounding Mount Cook.  Even though the views were magnificent the winds were powerfully strong.  As we got closer to the top, the wind became so strong it knocked us off balance several times!  It was so windy, it became really uncomfortable and we had to come down shortly after we arrived.
Then in the night, the gusts got so strong, about 80 miles per hour, we were worried it was going to capsize the van!  We tried to go to sleep but the gusts kept rising and rising. We kept thinking “there is no way the van could tip over” but then we remembered whenever you see the news about hurricanes it always shows a van blown over!  We decided to get up and we drove it to a more sheltered place in the lee of a big  moraine. Even there it was still a wild night and neither of us got much sleep.