Mountain Chalets Twizel Christchurch

... cut into the ice, walk around on the glacier for a couple of hours and the climb back down the steps. The steepest the steps got were about the same as (for those in the know) the climb up to my bedroom at my mama’s house. But they were few and far between. Anyway, not to belittle the actual experience, as it was fantastic! And so, so beautiful. There are lots of pictures to show of all our travels, but unfortunately they just don’t seem to do the glacier justice. The ...

... Ror thought he saw the shape of it in the water but wasn't sure so we left it. The next day though before we left we decided to go back to see if it was still there and I thought that it definately must be it so Ror decided to go in and get it. Lol there were people standing on a bridge nearby watching him go in. He couldn't reach it though and isn't the best swimmer to be able to dive down and get it so we went in search of a long stick ...

... the conditions were awful and the lake very cold, it is Kiwi tradition to jump into the lake whilst taking a picture mid-air! As the picture shows, jumping was the easy bit, but Rob will tell you swimming out when its that cold, is tough!!! The picture looks good though!!!!

Soon after, we arrived at the hostel and for the first time since we left home, we were able to cook for ourselves! After a yummy spag bol, we sat in front of the big fire and ...

... and there were some performance art and video art instalations around the square. They had also erected a large white dome that held an ice skating rink (which we never did) and that at night had video projected on the inside that was visible outside, sometimes some artistic something and sometimes turning it into a giant snowglobe. There were also a collection of shops and stalls that set up there every day (I'm not sure if it was a part of the Arts Festival or just ...

... head up onto Burkes Pass which is basically the step you take going from the lowlands to the alpine level. This is where things start looking cool! Looks very much like the Central Plateau but with more mountains and pine trees dotting around. This part of the drive was AMAZING. What a day to see it all, we had cloud, wind, alot of wind! and blue skies. It was purely breathtaking. My goal was to get to Lake Tekapo, preferably before it would rain and it would seem ...

... cycling tour of the Malborough vineyards all together, BBQ in the evening before Mun and Dad went up to Abel Tasman Park for a night and Andrew, Linds, Pete and I headed for Hanmer Springs for some tough mountain biking, then a soak in the thermal springs in the evening before the boys cooked up a Spaghetti Bolognaise in the hostel in the evening. Mum and Dad rejoined us and we all headed for Lyttleton for a week in a house! No more camping for a wee while! We were ...

... respassa sanomassa et ei päästä ulos. Täti kävi kokeilemassa ja kysyi ootteko vahingossa laittanu oven takalukkoon. Oltiin siis ja ei onneks nolottanu yhtään. Ois pitäny sanoo et on jostain muusta maasta ku Suomesta. Jos joku on menossa Dunediniin ja majoittumassa Yha:n niin älkää ihmetelkö jos ne tulee näyttää miten lukot toimii... Niin siis dösällä jatkettiin matkaa aamusta Lake Tekapoon. Matkan varrella pysähdyttiin pari kertaa, eka ...

... ole mitään asiaa, eikä ylhäällä varmasti ole WLAN verkkoakaan, joten eiköhän anneta sen homman olla :-) Tietysti valittiin sellainen hetki vuoren valloitukselle, jolloin sade oli juuri nousemassa ja aivan uskomaton vastatuuli puski edestä, joten hiukan veti niin sanotusti hapoille ja palkeita tukkoon! Ylös noustiin kuitenkin hirveällä vimmalla noin tunnissa ja kyllä vaan kannatti taas rimpuilla! Ylhäältä avautui nimittäin todella mahtavat maisemat alas ja ties kuin pitk ...

... of the day relaxing at various locations around the lake waiting for the sun to dip behind the mountains so we could observe the fabled Lake Tekapo night sky. A big smiling moon appeared radiantly over the lake, which was nice for the moon but contrary to our expectation of a star-studded milky way! So much for stargazing...