It's worth it! The DOC (Department of Conservation) huts are pretty basic, no hot water, no shower, long shared bunk beds with thin mattresses but this one has flushing loos, lots of gas cookers, a wood burning stove and a balcony to watch the sun set over the stunning scenary. The walk here was pretty good too! Day one of the Kepler track successfully completed. Yay. LZ

Tea time Second time round on a three-day walk, we are better prepared. We have some light pans, we've thought the food through better but somehow we didn't remember the mugs. Tea in the saucepan tastes good after a long walk though. Phew. LZ

Wow. Barely half a dozen eggs left. Stocks are running low. That went fast. Think that we will enjoy our hard boiled eggs and pita brunch half way up the mountains later though. Yummy. LZ

Lake Manapauri Beautiful drive today from Invercargill up to Te Anau. Beautiful hills, forests, lakes and all set off by good weather. Bliss. We also picked up our first hitchhiker today - a young German guy we'd seen at a hostel a few days earlier. We just about had room in the car for him. Hitchhiking seems to be pretty common here. I suppose there are so many tourists doing such similar routes and the distances are quite substantial. Leah

Mmmmmmmm We got hooked on soft boiled eggs for breakfast in Blenheim, where we spoilt with fresh ones from the hens poking about outside our room. On the drive down to Dunedin we stopped at a little farm shop along the way, with chickens outside it, and saw a tray of fresh farm eggs for sale. They were about the same price as half a dozen free-range ones in the supermarket so we went for it. Not too sure how we will get through 30 eggs in the next few days but...