Tighnafeile House Timaru

... Gorge and during the 2 hours of looking for it when there weren't any signs we found another one that was nearby called Mt Nimrod. We stayed there and there was noone else there. We couldn't see anything when we arrived but in the morning we saw how lovely a spot it was. We had breakfast and then got on the road (a fifty-something km gravel track)! I had forgot to sort the breezy feet problem out and so was very cold.

... head back to the van feeling very very small and drive to our campsite some 2km down the valley. 17th Up very early to the sound of someone banging on the side of the van. We had kind of expected this as we had just driven onto a paid campsite in the middle of the night and not paid. $12 later and we are awake and getting the tea on, i am particularly drowsy this morning and this doesn't seem to go away for the rest of the day but im sure the beer with lunch didn't help. We get up and Kim has ...

... cherries and now salmon. When we arrived at Mt. Cook it was perfectly clear and all the glaciers were visible. We did a steep, but short hike up to the Tasman glacier lake where some of the ice has broken off leaving ice-bergs floating in the lake. There is no plant life in the moraine so the landscape is strewn with rocks and boulders. The lake itself is sullied with churned mud giving it a grey ...

... to shake - it was like being in an earthquake - quite scary. No more views of Mt Cook - you wouldn't have even known that we were near any mountains. We went up to Mt Cook Village to see whether there was any chance that the weather would lift so we could do one of the walks into the valley. Hummmm not much chance - this rain is getting a bit tiresome. There is a fantastic Sir Edmund Hilary ...

... beautiful sceanery! the stones on the beach looked like little crystals. We found all different color ones and shapes. I found a red yellow and green rocks, Jesse found a whole bunch of little crystals. My favorite part about the beach was that there was absolutly no houses on the beach itself. There was a few houses scattered here and there but it was not littered with fancy houses. Beautiful!

After our soak in the hot springs we head off to our next destination, Mount Cook which is in the Mackenzie ranges and is where Sir Edmund Hilary did his training prior to his successful ascent of Mount Everest. The drive, once again, takes us through stunning landscapes across the plains and along the shoreline of Lake Pukaki. All the time we are virtually surrounded by snow-capped mountains. We arrive in the dark at Glentanner ...

Time to stock up on a few provisions, i.e. beer & crisps, as we´re going to be in the middle of nowhere for the next two nights. Yep, our home for the next 48 hours are the shearer´s quarters at a station in the shadows of Mt Cook. We´ve been treated to some unusual places to stay on this trip, and this is no exception. Absolutely stunning location, with beautiful views all around, but Mt Cook stands out in particular The place ...

Right now we're in Timaru, a town south of Christchurch. The drive here from Christchurch is supposedly the least scenic (a.k.a. shittiest) drive in the South Island, or so I've heard. Well I can testify for that because I drove half the way since Val was too tired to. Flat landscape, with plains of brown dried grass. According to Val and Marten it is how Northern Germany and Southern Sweden look like. Not ...

... winds and waves are treacherous out in the Pacific - maybe it has something to do with the tornados that touched down in Milwaukee area yesterday in that the jet streams are just crazy all over right now? Instead of sailing to Timaru we instead are hugging as closely as possible to the shoreline now to make our way safely to Dunedin. We haven't even hit the Tasman Sea yet, can't wait to see how that's going to go for 3 days straight :)

... New Zealand most big rivers all have a place to pull over and stop beside. Kiwis are great outdoors people and get out there when ever they can. Most rivers have that access for them. Though you will notice, due to the lack of population, it is never crowded. A very important part of Kiwi life is rugby (more a religion),racing and beer. There seems to be a race track at most places and here at ...