Country Time Resort Omarama

... nice heated car and I like shorts, but this morning I overlooked the fact I was without my warm cocoon for up to 3 hours!) so I had to find somewhere warm. The information center was a good start. From there I floated into Starbucks to get a nice warm cuppa tea. Killed time here reading the mornings paper and txting before I probably overstayed my customary welcome and then made an exit to the cold overcast day with a nippy breeze gusting between the blocked ...

... They formed naturally within the cliff behind the beach and when the water weathers away the sandy rock, these spherical boulders just pop out. Naturally, I took about 250 photos in the span of half an hour and we then set of back towards the West to the Church of the Good Shepherd.<br><br>The Church of the Good Shepherd is a tiny church built in the middle of nowhere (although now there's a small touristy village nearby offering ...

... didn't participate. We didn't want to show anyone up. We had a great time in St. Bathan's cooking on our little grill and eating baked beans and toast. One night we made sausages, so that wasn't so bad. It was nice to be in the middle of no where, have the mountains and nothing but the cows deafening sounds. From St. Bathen's we kept to the road and looked for jobs along the way. We did a few other interesting things as well. Like ...

... in the end she cancelled the other place and apologised for being a ninny and we got accomodation in Omarama Top 10 park. Had an early night.Monday 9/3/09 drove to a little place called Geraldine where we had lunch sitting out in sun in a nice cafe with of course a glass of wine. Drove on to Christchurch where we arrived about 4.30pm. Went down town later and had a look around had a few drinks in an ...

... here are just blurs on the highway. Kind of like driving through Northern Ontario or the Prairies but with smaller towns. New Zealand only has 4 million people and the remoteness and openness is something I hadn't expected. Queenstown was a real tourist town with lots of tour groups and buses and lots of people. Although it was nice to visit, the solitude of Mount Cook is refreshing. I am writing this in our room with a view to Mount Cook in the ...

... at Lake Tekapo. another stop at Lake Pukaki and i was really sad about my camera which broke in cairns, the display wouldnt show the photos and i wasnt sure it worked, so i didnt take half of the pics i would have wanted to. the last stop before the evening fell was Mt Cook Village and a great walk with a breathtaking scenery. i never knew a country could be so amazingly beautiful! i was without words. crazy! but ...

... Tarns themselves weren't impressive: two small ponds, frozen and covered with a thin coating of snow. The view wasn't bad, though. After a short break, I set off toward the ridge, on the Mueller Hut path, which is way-marked by posts. I had a brief chat with a descending climber, who had turned back short of the ridge itself due to the wind-driven ice: "I was getting pelted pretty good." I soon ...

... brugt på at finde ud af hvad vi skulle, var klokken blevet mange og vi besluttede os for at tage en rute som i følge vores kort skulle tage 4 timer. Det gjorde den ikke! Da vi endelig nåede frem til hytten, hvor vi skulle overnatte, havde vi brugt omkring 6 timer! Vi havde ikke regnet med at skulle krydse en bjergtop med sne op til knæene. Derefter finde vej i en mørk skov, som var både stejl, mudderet og vanvittig glat ...

... snow capped mountains and rolling green fields, and plenty of lakes. The main lake being Lake Tekapo, not sure how many times we stopped to take pictures of the lake and its mountain backdrop. At the end of the day we decided that we wouldn't make it as far as were thinking and found a little town that happened to have two hostels in it. I think we must have found the best hostel so far in NZ. It wasn't really a ...

... rewarding and the views were spectacular! The whole south-west shore and Stewart Island were revealed. In the pampered hut we got a privet room with Benny and Inbal, pillows and hot oat porridge in the morning. We felt like kings :) The next day, like the second day of the Kepler track, we woke up inside a cloud and through the whole day it was cold, cloudy and rainy, unfortunately. We descended into the bush again and beside of a Bamby and his mom, there was no excitements on ...