We woke up around 7.30am in order to get ready for our big climb. On making our way to the DOC site toilets, Matt realised our camping table had been stolen and the car next to us had gone. We were sure it wouldn't be much money to replace but it was still a bit of a blow all the same.

We weren't going to let a small thing like that ruin our day so we got ready and headed to Franz Josef for our Ice Explorer tour. The weather didn't look too bad at that point but the dark clouds were setting in. On arrival at the tour company 20 minutes early, they warned us that although 3 groups had already gone out that morning, the weather forecast was not looking good for our group at 9am. I tried to stay positive for Matt's sake as I could see he was probably not going to take the possibly of cancellation well, it would be pretty much a wasted journey of 11 hours and also a precious day. Also, unfortunately, Franz Josef town itself didn't have much to offer so I was really hoping we could go ahead with the climb.

8.55am, a very pretty Canadian girl who worked for the company came and sat at our table, she looked awkward and a little sad so I knew instantly what she was about to say, "I'm really sorry but they've called off your tour today because of bad weather forecasts". I tried to take it well as it couldn't be helped, it wasn't actually anyone's fault but again, we just seemed to be having a run of bad luck. Matt was really gutted bless him, firstly because we wouldn't have more time to climb to the Glacier, and secondly because we had doubled back on ourselves in our journey which would have cost us a day and 11 hours driving. This is all part and parcel of travelling though, you have to take the highs with the lows and the rough with the smooth. It's not always easy and plain sailing. After trying to sort out our full refund, we went to a local restaurant called 'The Landing' that we were recommended for breakfast and wifi.

Breakfast of eggs and hash browns was amazing and the wifi was pretty good too so we managed to get a lot of bits and pieces organised. I was starting to get nervous about Christmas as I was aware a lot of places would get booked up quickly so I wanted to book something sooner rather than later. Our original plan was to be in The Bay of Islands for Christmas as we wanted to spend it on a beach but as it's very North of the North island, we thought we might struggle to get there in time. We made the decision to stay in Auckland for Christmas in an Air BnB for two nights so we could make the most of relaxing. We found a really lovely looking apartment in the centre of Auckland that were owned by a British couple. It had great reviews and they seemed very friendly via message so we're excited about our decision. After rinsing the wifi at the restaurant, we moved on to our next destination which we were both super excited for, Queenstown!

It took us 5 hours to get back to Lake Wanaka, on the way back we drove over 'Chelsea Creek' which I thought was crazy considering how many hundreds if not thousands of creeks there were in New Zealand, and there happened to be one with my name on it and I happened to see it! In Wanaka, we organised our refund through the tourist company as we were driving straight past, and drove another hour and a half onto Queenstown. On route, we drove through Cardona Valley and Crown Ridge which were beautiful mountain ranges. It was a stunning evening considering the terrible morning weather in Franz Josef. It was interesting to see how the mountains were grouped in clusters and also how the terrain within these clusters varied considerably. I never thought I would be so interested in the geography of mountains!

Eventually we arrived at Queenstown. I instantly loved the vibe there, it just 'oozed' coolness, that's the only way I can attempt to sum it up. The glistening Lake Wakatipu was on our left as we drove down into the town centre and you could see jet boats playing water sports up and down the lake. We arrived at the Creekside campsite which was really quite impressive. The decor was quirky and clean. Eco friendly was definitely they're moto. We paid 58 NZD for our first night to see how it went, logged on to the all important wifi, parked our van up and plug him into the the electricity mains. Sorted!

After freshening up, we walked into Queenstown main strip for some food. The famous Fergburger restaurant was heaving- clearly the busiest place on the entire strip, but we had read this was a must while in Queenstown so we joined the ever lasting queue. Next door was a tourist company so I popped in to pick up some flyers for ideas over the next couple of days. Matt had hardly moved in the queue by the time I got back, I hoped this burger was worth it. 35 minutes later Matt was being served while I managed to nab one of the 3 tables in the entire restaurant, guess that was lucky. 45 minutes later, our burgers arrived! I had the 'Tropical Swine' burger and Matt had the 'Chief Wigam' burger, and we shared chips with Alioli, they go mad for that sauce out here! I'm not just saying this... genuinely THE BEST burger I've had in my life! Everything about it was incredible. It's making me salivate just writing about it. Soooo worth the wait! We celebrated being in this incredible spot with beer and a glass of wine! After we demolished our burgers, we finished the busy day off with a drink in a local pub/bar. We chatted about everything and anything (it's a wonder we still have anything left to say to each our) and then stumbled back to the camper for bed with a lie in!