Hello,

Well after setting off early in the morning we stopped at Lake matheson to get the mirror reflection of mt cook, we have some pics which we will put on. It was a really nice veiw we did a short walk to the lake and then stopped in the cafe which was really nice and had a cup of tea. After leaving Lake Matheson we carried on and had a few short picture stops and one stop where we had to walk across the bridge due to wheight restrictions because of a recent earthquake which means the bridge isnt very safe anymore.

We then stopped for lunch at a weird little cafe in the middle of knowhere before jumping back on the bus and playing a game where the boys where against the girls and we had to do chair surfing which consisted of standing on your chair until you lost your balance, crowd surfing where a boy and a girl from the back had to climb there away over the top of everyones seats to the front of the bus, quiz questions and the weetabix challenge where one girl and one boy had to eat a dry weetabix as fast as they could the boys aways won that one tho lol. It ended up being a tie as everyone had enough and jumped off the bus to take some more pics of the veiw.

We arrived eventually in Wanaka in the afternoon and me and kev decided to stay there for a few extra nights so we could have a days skiing. We asked at reception about the differnt skiing sites and hiring places and the boy told us we could get trousers, jacket, skis, boots, hat and gloves pretty cheap at a shop nearby 'green toad' so we went round there and hired our stuff. He also said we could get a shuttle for 32 dollars each to the ski slope and back but he recomended we hitch hiked cus everyone does it and it saves a bit of money, so he told us where to go in the morning to get a lift and told us to go to Cadrona as that was the ski slope which was mostly for begginers.

In the morning we got up really early and made our way down to the place where everyone hitched from, there was no one there when we got there so we werent sure if we were in the right place and no one seemed to be stopping but after about 10 minutes a van pulled up with two boys and a girl in and said they could only take one of us, so i jumped in, it turnt out they were the british ski team lol and where over here training before they go to europe latter this year for some competitions. Kev got a lift 5 minutes after me with two other people who where hitch hiking with some people who worked at the ski slope. They ended up taking over us in our van tho lol as the van i was in struggled to get up the hill as it was in the wrong mode and we nearly stopped but then after switiching it into sports mode we got some revs and made it up the hill lol. It was the steepest hill ever and sheer drops below so it was really scary. Once at the top i met kev who was waiting for me and we got our lift passes for the day, unfortunately the weather was really bad and foggy and you couldnt really see anything in front of you all day, so it was really hard to ski, when you didnt know the slopes and had know idea where you where heading.

We started off on a begginer slope so kev could do some practising and after about 5 runs of that we went on to a bigger begginer slope. which we got the chair lift up to and followed the flags all the way down to make sure we didnt go off the mountain lol. Kev followed me and we done that run a few times before going in the cafe for a cup of hot chocolate as it was so cold. We then went back out and went up the same chair lift and did the fun runs a few times, and after an hour went back in for some lunch. After lunch we decided to do an intermediate slope which was really gd, kev had a few falls lol but he didnt hurt himself, we then went up a different chair lift thinking we could go down the beginer slope at the top of that but it was closed so the only way down was another harder intermediate slope or advanced slopes lol so we went down the intermediate and kev had a few more falls lol, one where he fell off the edge of a hill because he couldnt see it with all the fog lol. I ended up waiting at the bottom of the hill for him to come down cus he fell so much lol, but he made it and we decided to stick to the begginer slopes after that and carried on with the fun runs.

We knew the slope so well betime the end we were racing down it even in the fog lol. We had one patch of clearness which lasted 5 minuted and we were able to take some pics from the top of the mountain which was gd. Kev was beating me down the end of the slope by the end of the day lol so hes getting the hang of it now.

We then hitchhiked back with a man who had some space in his car due to his brother going back in the ambulance as he had hurt his neck, but he said it wasnt serious. He dropped us off rite outside the hostel which was gd and we took our stuff back before cooking dinner and getting an early night.

The next day we got up and went for a walk up mt iron, kev is so unfit he found it really hard so hes going to be rubbish at football when he gets back lol, couldnt even get up a hill lol. The vewis were really nice and we got some more pics before making our way down. On the way back we stopped off at there local cinema which had couches in and even a little morris minor car which you could sit in lol. There was also an interval in the middle of the film where we got cookies and pizza whilst watching the movie. We watched bruno as that was on when we got there and it was really funny although a little strange at times lol. After that we went back to the hostel and watched some telly and got another early night ready to catch our bus to queenstown in the mornig. xxxxxx