Couple tragically killed in New Zealand mountain fall
Two Australians have been tragically killed in a fall off New Zealand's Mt Cook National Park.
Melbourne mountain guide Stuart Jason Hollaway, 42 and his partner Dale Amanda Thistlewaite, 35, were last heard from during a radio call on December 28.
The pair were near the top of the mountain when they fell a considerable distance to their deaths on December 29, police said.
The bodies of the two climbers were found on New Year's Day at the bottom of a steep face on the eastern slopes of the 3300m Mt Silberhorn.
It’s believed they fell close to where they had been camping and were roped together.
Rescue teams had to wait until the evening of January 1 to recover their bodies due to the risk of melting ice.
The families of the pair have been informed and their deaths will be referred to the coroner.
They are the second and third Melbourne residents to die on a mountain in Mt Cook National Park in under two weeks.
