Snowed in at Lake Tekapo. We woke up on that first morning, looked out the window to everything covered in snow two feet deep. It was amazing. I've never seen snow like it. There wasn't any electricity so we went into the main block where the lounge was and a proper fire was going. We weren't going anywhere. All roads were closed and the electricity would be off for a couple of days...eek. Make yourself comfortable then. We had the fire roaring to keep us warm. The Hostel manager Bridget, brought over a big saucepan of soup and bag of sausages for us as the shop owner in town had gone slightly crazy under the stress and decided nobody could buy food until the power was back on. In the afternoon we all ventured out for a walk to the lake. Luckily we had borrowed our ski gear from Janine so we were kitted out, apart from my rediculous trainers. We walked along the end of our road to the juntion connecting to the main road of the town. I was ahead of everyone and reached the junction just in time to see a snow plough flicking up masses of snow along the road. He came tearing along and it took me a while to register i was about to get dumped on. I turned round and screamed as i ran (it felt like it was in slow motion) towards the others. Didn't make it at all and was splattered. Becs saw it all and was in hysterics because the guy in the plough was giggling away to himself. Thanks guys. I'm now drenched and freezing. Anyway, we went to the little shop where the owner had decided he could open for two hours as long as people came in one at a time to buy essential items. Becs and I queued and when we got in there purchased a bottle of wine, packet of biscuits and chocolate bars. It's all about the survival!! Afterwards we walked along to the little church you can see in the photos. It was so beautiful. Honestly it is probably the most stunning place i've ever seen. It didn't look real stood there in front of the mountains and the lake covered in snow. Picture perfect!! We went back to the hostel afterwards, drunk some red wine and spent the afternoon drinking tea and eating biscuits. That night we had sausage and mash (feel like i'm camping). We had candles out when it got dark and played cards. Being snowed in is not so bad!! That night we went to bed in pyjamas, a dressing gown, the hat and slept under three blankets!! The next day all the roads were still closed and power was still off. We showered which was one hell of an ordeal then had porridge and tea!! The sun came out and made everything look even more beautiful. About lunch time a group of us went out in full ski gear and headed to the police station. We had been told that the farmers needed help to dig out sheep on the hills and that volunteers were being helicoptered up to help. Brilliant. When we got to the station a guy Alastair said "um excuse me, we're hear to save the sheep". Apparently the police knew nothing about it and so took the p*ss whenever they saw us for the rest of the day. We looked like plonkers. Lets hope the sheep are ok!! We bought more wine at the shop and munched our way through more biscuits all afternoon. We went out to watch the sunset at the top of the hill and a few people left that afternoon to take on the roads. There was speculation as to whether they were open or not so we decided to stay another night and leave the next day. Two girls turned up from further down the country so they had made it through. They were a really good giggle. We spent the night with them drinking wine and swopping stories. Lydia, an ex detective had just had her bits pierced...eek. Caz had travelled half the world on her own and had some scary stories about Mumbai!! The next day we could leave and so set off for Mnt Cook!!