Matai Lodge Ohakune

... on the ole BlueBridge ferry which had forsaken us only 9 days prior. Computer games, blogging, no awesome Maori kids, and the Cook Strait proving it can still give a decent sway to a several ton ship. We decided we were going log some miles once we landed into Wellington at 10:30 p.m. It started out as a really good decision, but as the hours slowly passed by it seemed there were less and less options to camp. It finally ...

... our camper van has pretty poor tires. The rain slowly turned to snow as we headed up the mountain, the visibility got worse and worse, virtually unable to see anything at the top. Kristin was driving and it was impossible for here to stop anywhere because the sides of the roads were more dangerous than just continuing. It seemed like the road took forever. We eventually made it to the other side and ...

... to the South Island which everyone talks about as being the better of the two (although it's hard to imagine more beauty than I've seen. I think coming from such flat land in the Mid-West I'm hyper sensitive to the rolling and choppy landscape. After the ferry arrives in Picton on the Northern tip of the South Island I get off the bus and leave all of my new friends to hike and camp the Queen Charlotte Track. I'm excited for that and all that comes after. Everyone is ...

... steps in but it is no easier. The nearer we got to the top we knew the sun was up behind the ridge so it spurned me on to get up there and warm up. But that was not to be. As we got to the top of the ridge the wind was sitting waiting for us and it was howling and really bloody cold. We made our way down a little way to walk across the Brown Crater (photo's to follow) and ...

... popularni. :-) Zacali jsme v nadmorske vysce 1100m a po nekolikahodinovem plazeni jsme dosahly nejvyssiho bodu trasy – 1900m. Chvilema byly kopecky docela strme a cestou jsme postupne odhazovali slupky obleceni, ktere jsme na sebe uz rano nasoukali po varovani mistnich horalu, ze pocasi je tam nahore dost promenlive a muze se to vsechno pak osklive zvrtnout. Nam ale slunce palilo celou cestu a vylozene jsme si to uzivali. Je tu nadherna priroda a ty vulkany ...

... offer up those little treats as well...chocolates on the pillows, not quite; · Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier...visiting these glaciers, which by the way are both currently advancing (take that Al Gore!), was very enjoyable. We have always found glaciers to be visually appealing (and good fodder for poems), but what made these different was that we could approach both by hiking up the huge rocky stream beds that had been carved by ...

... pants, my hands were very cold and I was wishing I had a warm hat.  BUT all in all we were both fine.  It was an interesting transition though between the t-shirts and caprees we started with.  The top of Mt. Tonariro was beautiful.  The Red Crater was smoking and the smell of sulfur was almost nauseating though that could also have been from the hike itself.  There were three Emerald Lakes and they were all a stunning green. The trek back to the bus was at first very very bearable ...

... poses and pushing for the front space of the viewing points. Talking of tourists there are huge numbers of Germans and Dutch, particularly on the camp sites. There is a distinct lack of Brits here though - whilst it is not the holiday season in GB, I really do think that the lack of numbers must be in some way related to the credit crunch and recession - when we were in Australia 2 years ago there ...

... with a series of impressive and painful tumbles that would put a Russian gymnast to shame. Emmet kindly stuck with me for a while before heading north with the boys to where the real action was. I tried relentlessly to get one clean sweep of the slope staying on my board but it was impossible. The guy operating the tow rope tried to give me some pointers to little avail, and eventually before giving up, asked me if I'd thought of trying skiing ...

... but the visbility was terrible we had a few runs and then decided to call it a day. After a quick sort out back at base we headed off towards Hawke Bay, but a late change of mind means Alex is now writing the blog in a car park in Wanganui after having devoured a tasty spag bol donated by Carol, thank you Carol. Thursday 4th September Now in Wanganui tried a new tactic last ...