Panorama Motor Lodge Timaru

... track is catching up with me and my legs ache and my right knee really hurts. Once to the top we take in the view and see the icebergs that have fallen off the front of the glacier floating down the lake to the stream below. The whole area looks like a quarry as the thousands of tonnes of ground up rock that the glacier has collected is dumped at the foot of the mountain. These glaciers are receding however, unlike Fox and therefore the amount of dirt and rock is substantial giving ...

... similar to moon dust. The entire landscape was barren and beautiful. We pre-booked the cheapest room in the famous Hermitage Hotel, but asked for a room with a view just in case. Luckily, they were not very full so we got a room with a view of Mt. Cook at a major discount price. We watched the sunset from our balcony and took photos of the majestic mountain as the orange glow illuminated the snow and ...

... which we spent some time wandering around & watching a film about Hilary. There was also a 3D film about Mt Cook - a great way to spend some time in the rain. And it did continue to rain so there was little point waiting around so we continued our route towards Christchurch. Rather than go straight to Christchurch we decided to go to Akaroa - the french town on the Banks Penninsula. xxx

ive been in different part of the world,from north to south east to west but personally i would prefer to live in new zealand, especially to this place "Timaru". its already 12 noon when i started strolling in the beautiful place of timaru, new zealand..on the first glance of their city i was already amazed...... its already noon time, but the coldness of the street was still felt by my ...

... which is about 20kms away from Mount Cook village. We have to drive around the site several times before we find a site which is a). level and b). not covered with snow. It is freezing!! We make an early start towards Mount Cook, which, incidentally, I am sure I recognise as the company logo of Invesco Perpetual, the fund management company (sad really, I have obviously spent way too long in the financial services industry ...

... warmed up when our resident fire bug Jeff had chopped up and ignited enough firewood to keep us warm for our stay (and probably to the middle of the following week!), and it felt real cosy. Just as well, as for the first time on this trip you could really feel the cold. And the next morning, we´d be feeling it even more, as we head out to climb the Mueller Hut trail - a 3 hour tramp, all uphill, tricky in parts, and made even more ...

... brakes got on the way down! The part that was the most shocking is that this is just a regular street that people live on and drive up everyday! We finally reached the top, took a few photos, and headed back down to make room for the next group of people making their claim to fame. After successfully "summiting" the top we collected our certificate from the souvenir shop on the corner and headed out of town. After our vigorous ...

... attractive. Third day into Timaru and I haven't even explored the town centre. So far I've been holed up in the backpackers stealing the wireless Internet and sleeping. I got a very comfortable double bed to myself with golden satin-like sheets on it. Yes I kid you not, the sheets are gold in colour. Yesterday it was raining the whole day so we didn't work (didn't get paid either in case anyone's ...

... 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 :)