We were dropped off right outside the campsite and we set up camp. We walked into the town (about 5 minutes walk) and booked a tour of the glacier for the following day. We went to get everything ready for dinner back at the campsite and then Karl realised he left a bag with most of the food in on the coach as well as his hoody so he wasn't best pleased!!! Sam and Karl went back to buy replacements while I attempted to phone home. When they got back we cooked and ate dinner before going on a walk just outside of the town on the lookout for glow-worms. It was amazing - just like loads of Christmas Tree lights in the forest. When we got back I eventually managed to get through to my family and spent a while on the phone before going to bed for the night.

The next day we got up early for the Fox Glacier tour. We got up to the centre at 8.30am, got kitted out (with boots etc) and got a bus to the glacier itself. It really is uncomprehendable how huge it is! There was a rock on the otherside of the valley which seemed quite small and relatively close but in actual fact the rock was the size of a 2-storey house and was 1km away!!! We walked through some forest and got up onto the ice where we put crampons on. Walking on the ice was surreal and such an experience. It's just so much bigger than you could ever imagine!!! On the way back on the bus it started to rain really hard and by the time we had got back to the town and had lunch it was obvious that it was pointless walking to Lake Matheson (pictured above) that afternoon as originally planned a) because it was pissing it down!!! and b) visability was so poor. On the walk back to the campsite I got absolutely soaked and had to change before going into the dry and warmth of the lounge where I sat on the internet for a while!!! After that we rested in the tent and had dinner before going to bed. The rest of the afternoon/evening was a washout and it rained so hard - the tent started to leak. Sam, who had emptied his daysack for use on the glacier came back to find loads of his stuff in a pool of water. I was trickled onto in the night but most of my stuff remained dry as it was in bags. The clothes I was wearing on the glacier were soaking though and with the prospect of more rain we decided we might give up on the tent when there was bad weather as there was no way to get stuff dry...especially the tent!!!!!

The next morning we got the InterCity early at 8.45 onto Queenstown. Again the journey was good with lots of commentary and we stopped off at a lot of beautiful sites including a waterfall and visitor centre with a stunning backdrop (Haast). We also stopped at Lake Wanaka (or Hawea) and Arrowtown en route.