Bon Appetit! Another late arrival tonight but just enough energy to create some salmon canapés for dinner, topped off with a cheese plate and lemon cheesecakes with dessert wine for pudding. Mmmmm. Not sure it's the average fare at this youth hostel.... Leah

With such glorious sun and after our long drive yesterday, I was up for some relaxation by the lake and in this chilled town. Wanaka seems keen to oblige. Driving past all those mountains gave Dann itchy feet, so he's charging up one at the moment as I contemplate where to get my next coffee from. LZ

Bliss We had a long drive yesterday down the west coast, taking in the Hokitika Falls, the Whataroa River, a walk up to the Franz Josef Glacier and splendid views of the Fox Glacier, surrounded by the Southern Alps. We carried on through Haast and saw most of the beautiful drive though the Haast Pass and past the twin Lakes of Wanaka and Hawea as the sun was setting on our arrival into Wanaka. This morning it was glorious to drive back through town and stop a...

Apricot-tastic At the end of a long day, what better way to relax that with a cold, locally brewed wheat beer. The ones on special offer were with apricot. Good job we love apricots as we had accidentally also had apricot oat bars as a snack and dried apricots with our lunch. All very yummy and fairly healthy, so not a problem! Leah

Here is the newest addition to our travelling entourage. A flashy new case for our little laptop. It gets a few stares as it is bright pink, has a flowery cat on the cover, and designed for 8 year old school girls - but we love it. And at only $6 it was a steal. DW